


Eleven's Hour

by Shadowhunter_Artemis



Series: Daughter of Time [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2020-03-05 20:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 61,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18836125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowhunter_Artemis/pseuds/Shadowhunter_Artemis
Summary: It is now the time of Eleven and his newly generated fiancé Alyssa. And their journey begins with a crash landing which changes the life of Amelia Pond. With mysterious cracks appearing everywhere they go and River Song popping up…will the couple manage to tie the knot? Find out as they journey beyond the stars.





	1. Eleventh Hour part 1

In the wake of the couple’s regenerations, the TARDIS was tumbling out of control throwing her passengers around like ragdolls. At one point the Doctor had fallen out and was hanging on for dear life. Alyssa managed to make her way towards him and grabbed his wrists. With some effort, she began to haul him back inside the ship. “Ali!” the Doctor exclaimed when he noticed that they were getting perilously close to Big Ben. Thinking quickly, she let go of one of his wrists and raised her hand to the console. A lever shifted and TARDIS moved up out of the way just in time to avoid the Doctor from getting severely injured. Now that they weren’t on a collision course with any of London’s landmarks, Alyssa pulled the Doctor back in the TARDIS. He shut the doors and slumped against them exhausted. Alyssa sat next to him resting her head on his shoulder, she too was tired from being tossed about. Suddenly the TARDIS lurches and spins out of control. Alyssa screamed as she fell through the TARDIS no idea where she was going to end up.

Splash! The red head had landed in the pool which was probably the only thing that had stopped her from smacking against the wall or the ceiling. Alyssa struggled to get out as the blue box was still spinning out of control. There was a second splash as the Doctor also landed in the pool. He grabbed onto the side with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Alyssa.

“This is some day we’re having, huh love?” the Doctor lightly remarked acting as if they hadn’t just fallen into the swimming pool from the console room.

“You said it”, Alyssa agreed. There was a loud thump telling them both that the TARDIS had landed…or more likely crash landed somewhere. The Doctor climbed out of the swimming pool first and then helped his fiancé out. Alyssa wrapped her arms around herself, shivering, taking in their surroundings. “You know…I do believe we’re on the library”, she commented.

The Doctor stopped squeezing the water out from his tattered shirt and glanced around. “I do believe your right Ali”, he agreed “but I don’t think that’s our main problem”.

“Ok”, Alyssa said slowly “what is our main problem?” she asked.

“Getting up to that door”, the Doctor said pointing up. Alyssa raised her eyebrows.

“Oh…that’s gonna be a challenge”

~Leadworth 1996~

Little Amelia Pond stared as a soaking wet man with floppy hair and green eyes pokes his head up from the police box “Could I have an apple? All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving? That's new. Never had cravings before”

“Never mind about a ruddy craving! You want to give me a hand?” A female’s voice shouted up.

“Oh sorry”, the man called down. Amelia watched his head disappear for a moment before he popped up with a red haired woman.

“Hello. Sorry about that. It was a heck of a climb up from the library”, she said.

“You got that right”, the floppy haired man agreed.

“You two are soaking wet”, Amelia commented eyeing them both.

“We were in the swimming pool”, the man explained.

“You said you were in the library”, Amelia said confused.

“So was the swimming pool”, the man countered.

“Are you a policeman?” Amelia asked.

“Why?” the man questioned leaning forward a bit, eyeing her “Did you call a policeman?”

“Did you come about the crack in my wall?” Amelia questioned.

The man opened his mouth to say something but instead he cried out in pain and fell off the edge of the police box. “Doctor!” the woman exclaimed jumping off and kneeling next to him.

“Are you all right, mister?” Amelia asked looking at the man worriedly.

“No, I'm fine. It's okay. This is all perfectly norm-“ he broke off, a wisp of golden light escaping from his mouth.

“Who are you?” Amelia asked looking at the man with mild curiosity.

“I don't know yet” the man replied looking at his hands which briefly shimmered with the same golden light “I'm still cooking” he looked up at Amelia “Does it scare you?”

She shook her head “No, it just looks a bit weird”, Amelia answered honestly.

“No, no, no. The crack in your wall”, the man corrected “Does it scare you?”

“Yes”, Amelia answered.

The man jumps to his feet pulling the red haired woman with him. “Well then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor and this gorgeous woman is Alyssa. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off” he strode away and promptly walked into a tree.

Amelia resisted the urge to laugh as she looked down at the Doctor. Alyssa on the other hand, shook her head at him with a fond smile on her face. “Are you all right?” Amelia asked.

 “Early days. Steering's a bit off”, he replied “even upside down, you really are beautiful Ali”.

The woman gave him a small smile “come on you mad man. Let’s get you inside before you end up knocking yourself out”, Alyssa said holding her hands out. The Doctor took them and she pulled him to his feet.

~Kitchen~

“If you're a doctor, why does your box say ‘Police’?” Amelia questioned picking up an apple from the fruit bowl. She gave it to the Doctor who took a bite before spitting it out.

“That's disgusting. What is that?” he coughed.

“An apple”, Amelia replied.

“Apple's rubbish. I hate apples”, the Doctor said tossing the apple behind him.

“You said you loved them two minutes ago”, Alyssa reminded him.

“No, no, no”, the Doctor shook his head “I love yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yoghurt”.

Amelia ran to the fridge, picked up a small yoghurt pot and went back over to the Doctor. He took the pot, opening it and poured the contents into his mouth. That too was spat out.

“I hate yoghurt. It's just stuff with bits in”, the Doctor said disgusted.

“You said it was your favourite”, Amelia said getting confused by this man. Why would he ask for those things if he was just going to spit it out? Didn’t make sense.

“New mouth. New rules” the Doctor explained wiped the back of his hand across his mouth “It's like eating after cleaning your teeth. Everything tastes wro-Argh!” Amelia watched with concern as he twitched violently on the spot, slapping himself on the forehead in the process. She wasn’t only one who was worried, Alyssa was too.

 _Is this what regeneration was supposed to be like?_ she thought. Was this the way she was going to act too? She hoped it wasn’t the case, she felt perfectly fine at the moment. 

“What is it?” Amelia asked now getting really worried about the man “What's wrong with you?”

The Doctor frowned at her “Wrong with me?” he scoffed “It's not my fault. Why can't you give me any decent food? You're Scottish. Fry something”.

Alyssa lightly whacked him on the arm “you’re being rude, dear. To a child no less”, she scolded.

“Well, unlike some people I’m _still_ not ginger, love”, the Doctor said reaching out, winding a finger around a strand of her wet hair “so not fair” he pouted.

Alyssa swatted his hand away “As you’ve said before, regeneration is a lottery”, she said.

“Yeah, one that doesn’t seem to go my way”, the Doctor grumbled.

“I don’t know why you’re throwing a wobbly about not being ginger”, Alyssa said “wet look aside, you’re actually rather handsome”.

The Doctor brightened “Really?” he asked. Not that he was vain, unlike some people he knew, but he _had_ secretly hoped that he would be handsome for her.

“Yeah”, Alyssa replied “without a doubt”.

The Doctor grinned and then kissed her. He half expected it to feel a little strange considering that they were both new people with new…everything. But it didn’t. It felt no different from all those other times he’d kissed her which was quite frankly a blessing. Although he wouldn’t have minded if it took some getting used to. Any excuse to kiss her. “I love you”, he declared.

“I love you too”, Alyssa said with a smile. They sat down at the table and waited for Amelia to be done with cooking the bacon.

“Ah, bacon!” the Doctor said happily when the ginger haired girl set a plate down on the table. He only tried a mouthful before spitting that out too “Bacon. That's bacon”, he stated with disgust “Are you trying to poison me?”

“Why would she try to poison you Doctor?” Alyssa asked “she needs our help”. The Doctor just shrugged. She turned to the girl “maybe try something else”, she suggested “beans”. Amelia nodded and went to the cupboard to get out a can.

She put them into a saucepan and heated them up. She then popped them onto a plate and set it in front the Time Lord. Once again the Doctor spat that out, into the sink time. “Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans”, he declared. Amelia then buttered a piece of bread. The Doctor didn’t like it either. Alyssa watched with mild amusement as the Doctor walked to the front door with the plate and tossed it out. “And stay out!” he shouted before he slammed the door. “What?” he asked when he came back into the kitchen and saw Alyssa barely supressing a smile.

“Nothing dear”, she replied, not even bothering to hide the amusement tone in her voice “is that evil bread safely outside?”

“Yep”, the Doctor answered popping the p.

“That’s good”, Alyssa commented. Amelia watched this interaction with a smile on her face. The Doctor was weird but funny and Alyssa didn’t seem to phased by it.

“We’ve…um got some…carrots”, Amelia spoke up.

“Carrots? Are you insane?” he asked staring at the girl as if she was crazy.

“This is coming from the mad man with a box”, Alyssa commented. The Doctor turned to her, pointed his finger and opened his mouth. Alyssa just looked at him waiting to see what he’d say. She wasn’t surprised when he closed his mouth and turned to the fridge/freezer instead.

“I know what I need… I need…I need…I need…” he looked in both “I need…” the Doctor took out a carton of custard and a box of frozen fish fingers “fish fingers and custard”. Amelie glanced at Alyssa but the red haired woman just shrugged. She had no idea why he chose those two particular items.

\------------------

A while later the Doctor is sitting at the table eating his fish fingers and custard. Alyssa sat next to him eating a bowl of ice cream. Amelia sat opposite them, also eating ice cream but straight out of the tub. The two females watched as the Doctor picked up the bowl of custard and drunk the remains of it. When he set the bowl down, the girls saw the line of custard above his top lip, like a moustache.

“Uh…dear, you’ve got a little custard”, Alyssa said tapping her top lip. She was surprised when the Doctor pecked her on the lips. “Really! Again?” Alyssa asked wiping away the traces of custard off her lips.

“Couldn’t resist”, the Doctor said wiping away the remains of the custard from his top lip.

“What’s your name?” Alyssa asked Amelia.

“Amelia Pond”, the girl replied.

“Oh, that's a brilliant name”, the Doctor commented “Amelia Pond”, he repeated “Like a name in a fairy tale”.

“Are we in Scotland Amelia?” Alyssa asked.

The girl shook her head “No. We had to move to England, it's rubbish”, she answered honestly.

“The weather can be rather rubbish at times but England’s not that bad. Where I lived was pretty exciting, never a dull moment”, Alyssa said “especially when you have the Doctor around”.

“Thanks love. So what about your mum and dad then? the Doctor asked Amelia “Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now”.

“I don't have a mum and dad”, Amelia replied sadly “Just an aunt”.

“I don't even have an aunt”, the Doctor commented “But I do have Ali and she’s I ever want or need”. Alyssa blushed at his compliment.

“So, your aunt, where is she?” she asked the girl.

“She's out”, Amelia replied.

The Doctor was very surprised at that. He wouldn’t have expected a girl as young as Amelia to be left alone “And she left you all alone?” he said incredulous.

“I'm not scared”, Amelia said.

 “Course, you're not” he agreed “You not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man and woman falls out of a box, man eats fish custard, woman eats ice cream and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?”

“What?” Amelia asked.

“Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall”, the Doctor said seriously.  

~Bedroom~

The Doctor crossed Amelia’s room to the wall with the crack in it “You've had some cowboys in here” he remarked, examining the crack.

“You’ve said that before”, Alyssa remarked.

“I have? When?” the Doctor asked turning to her.

“Steve’s first trip in the TARDIS. The ship with all those time windows”, Alyssa answered.

“Ah”, the Doctor nodded vaguely remembering that trip.

“You know, I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them”, Amelia explained showing them an apple with a smiley on it. The Doctor took the apple and popped it in his pocket.

“My mum used to create faces with the food on my dinner plate when I was your age”, Alyssa told her “she did it so often that I’d refuse to eat my dinner if it wasn’t in the shape of a face. Mum’s are brilliant like that aren’t they?”

“Yeah they are”, Amelia agreed. The Doctor smiled as he watched them both. His fiancé was pretty good with children…he couldn’t wait till they had their own one day.

He turns back to the crack “This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it”, he explained “So here's a thing. Where's the draught coming from?” he takes out his sonic, runs it along the crack and checks the readings “Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?”

“What?” Amelia asked.

“It's a crack” the Doctor ran his fingers over the crack “But I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall”.

“Where is it then?” Amelia questioned.

“Everywhere. In everything. It’s a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together…” he traced it with a finger “right here in the wall of your bedroom” the Doctor put his ear against the wall “Sometimes, can you hear…”

“A voice?” Amelia asked “Yes”.

The Doctor grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand, emptied it and went back to the wall. When he pressed it against the wall and put his ear the other end, the voice came through clearer “Prisoner Zero has escaped”

“Prisoner Zero?” the Doctor questioned glancing at Amelia.

“Prisoner Zero has escaped”, Amelia recited “that’s what I heard. What does it mean?”

“Prisoner Zero has escaped” the voice repeated.

The Doctor stepped back from the wall “It means that on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner” he explained “And you know what that means?”

“What?” Amelia asked.

“You need a better wall” he moved Amelia’s desk out of the way “The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or…”

“What?” Amelia asked.

“You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?” the Doctor asked the girl.

“Yes”, Amelia sighed.

“Everything's going to be fine”. The Doctor held out his hand but Amelia didn’t take it. She grasped Alyssa’s hand instead. Alyssa shrugged when the Doctor gave her a look.

The red haired woman held onto Amelia’s hand, keeping the girl firmly beside her while the Doctor stepped forward and used his sonic to open up the crack. The trio watched as the crack grew wider, flooding the room with bright light.

“Prisoner Zero has escaped” the voice repeated. The Doctor took a step towards the crack “Prisoner Zero has escaped”.

“Hello?” the Doctor called “Hello?”

A giant blue eye suddenly appeared making them all three of them jump “Doctor what is that?” Alyssa asked nudging Amelia behind her in case it was some kind of threat. Before the Doctor could answer her, a small ball of light shoots out of the crack, striking him, making him fall back onto the bed.

“Honey are you ok?” Alyssa asked.

“I’m fine”, the Doctor assured her, getting up. That’s when he saw that the crack had sealed itself up “There, you see? Told you it would close. Good as new”. 

“What's that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?” Amelia questioned.

“No. I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message” the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper from his pocket “Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message. ‘Prisoner Zero has escaped’” he read aloud “But why tell us? Unless…”

“Unless what?” Amelia asked.

“Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here” The Doctor looked around the room “But he couldn't have. We'd know”. He ran out of the room.

“Doctor’s what’s wrong?” Alyssa asked as he looked around the hall, confused.

“I don’t know…it's difficult. Brand new me. Nothing works yet”, the Time Lord replied. While he was speaking, Alyssa’s gaze slid over to spot near the stairs. There was a door, she hadn’t noticed it when they first came upstairs but she could see it now. She frowned. There was something…off… like she couldn’t quite focus on it.

Alyssa walked towards the door. She raised her hand to grasp the door handle when…

**_Sweetie! Help!_ **

“Sexy”, she breathed. Alyssa turned for the stairs and ran down them. The Doctor quickly followed suit, Amelia hot on his heels. As the Time Lord neared the backdoor, they heard a warning bell go off. The Doctor very nearly pulled the back door off its hinges as he yanked it open, rushing outside.

~Garden~

“I've got to get back in there”, the Doctor said racing towards the box “The engines are phasing. It's going to burn!”

“But…it's just a box! How can a box have engines?” Amelia exclaimed.

“It's not a box” the Doctor freed the grappling hook and gathers up the rope “It's a time machine”.

“What, a real one?” Amelia asked in disbelief “You've got a real time machine?”

“Not for much longer if we can’t get her stabilised”, Alyssa told her.

“5 minute hop into the future should do it” the Doctor added, looping the rope though the door handles.

“Can I come?” Amelia asked.

“Not safe in here. Not yet. Five minutes. Give us five minutes, we’ll be right back”, the Doctor replied climbing up to sit on the edge of the TARDIS.

“People always say that”, Amelia mumbled, looking down.

Alyssa took off her bracelet. “This is my most prized possession”, she said holding it out “I want you to hold onto it for me until we get back”.

“Why?” Amelia asked looking up at her confused.

“Because it is my promise to you that we will come back for you Amelia Pond”, Alyssa replied with a smile. Amelia returned the smile. Alyssa turned to the TARDIS where the Doctor held out a hand. She grasped it and he helped her climb up to sit on the edge of the TARDIS. 

“Geronimo!” he shouts as they jump into the blue box landing once again in the swimming pool.

\---------------------

Alyssa and the Doctor ran around the console trying to stabilize the ship. One point she fell, tripping on some debris. “You ok?” the Doctor asked going over.

“Yeah”, Alyssa replied. As the Time Lord helped her up, she noticed a door appear where there didn’t used to be one. “I’m such an idiot”, she said stumbling over with the Doctor to the console to continue to try and stabilize the ship.

“No you’re… ouch!” the Doctor exclaimed burning himself.

“No I am. I should’ve realised it”, Alyssa said “something about that door felt off. There’s a perception filter around it!”

Bang! The TARDIS shook again causing them both to fall, the Doctor landing on top of Alyssa. As he stared at her, it finally clicked. Her words made him realise what he was missing. “Oh you beautiful, brilliant woman!” the Doctor kissed her “that’s what I was missing!” He grabbed her hands and jumped to his feet, pulling her with him. The Doctor quickly worked at the console and a thud sounded, indicating that they’d landed.

The Time Lord took hold of Alyssa’s hand and headed for the door. He pulled it open and they stumbled out of the box. The Doctor ran over to the back door and used his sonic to open it. “Amelia you’ve got go out of this house right now!” Alyssa shouted as she and the Doctor bounded up the stairs “Prisoner Zero is here!”

“She’s right. Prisoner Zero is here!” the Doctor added trying the door that had the perception filter around it “Do you understand us! Prisoner Zero is…” they both heard a floorboard creak behind them. The Doctor and Alyssa turned around and the Time Lord was whacked across the face with a cricket bat.

“Whoa! Easy there!” Alyssa exclaimed to the young ginger who raised the bat to strike her as well “listen we’re not here to…” she trailed off when she noticed the extremely familiar charm bracelet on the ginger’s wrist. It was hers. “Amelia” she breathed. The ginger lowered the cricket bat “you’re…you’re all grown up”, Alyssa stated taking her in “How long…?”

“12 years”, the teenager answered, bitterly “and its Amy now”.

“Amy, I’m so sorry. We...” Alyssa gestured to the unconscious Doctor “never intended it to be 12 years”.

“I had to go to 4 psychiatrists because of you 2”, Amy said angrily.

“Why 4?” Alyssa asked.

“I kept…biting them”, Amy admitted “they were insisting you weren’t real. But I _knew_ you were real and not some imaginary friends I created as a child. This…” she held up the wrist with the bracelet “this reminded me that it was all real. It also reminded me how you promised 5 minutes and you never came back” Amy lowered her wrist.

“And I am so very sorry about that, truly I am”, Alyssa said feeling the hurt…the anger that was coming from the ginger “But the offer to come with us still stands”.

“Ali, I wanted to come so much but…” Amy sighed, fiddling with the charms “now I don’t know”.

“I understand”, Alyssa said “Just know that you are always welcome to come with us… if you’re still interested. But take your time thinking it over, in the meantime what did you want to do with the Doctor?” Alyssa glanced down at him “I can wake him up if you like”.

“Actually, I’ve got an idea”, Amy said looking down at the Doctor with a smile.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing the Doctor heard when he regained consciousness was the tweeting of birds. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times as his vision was a little blurred from being knocked out. “About time you were awake dear”, Alyssa lightly remarked from his right.

The Doctor glanced at her and she gave him a smile “Are you ok? You didn’t get hit, did you?” he asked quickly. He tried to move his hands to check her for injuries only to find that his left wrist was cuffed to the radiator they were both leaning against.

“Oi! You, sit still”, a British voice spoke up. The Time Lords looked over to see a police woman wearing a rather short skirt, standing there. Alyssa had to make sure she didn’t smile as she had to keep up the pretence. The Doctor couldn’t know that the police woman was the girl who waited, Amelia Pond.

“Why I am restrained?” the Doctor asked, not liking it one bit. It was a bit too much like the last time with the exception that Alyssa was next to him and wide awake.

“You were breaking and entering”, Amy told him.

“Well, that's much better. Brand new me. Whack on the head, just what I needed”, the Doctor said sarcastically “just tell me my fiancé didn’t get hit too”.

A brief flicker of surprise appeared on Amy’s face but she quickly composed herself. “Do you want to shut up now? I've got back up on the way”, she said sternly.

“Why should I?” the Doctor asked “You didn’t ask my question…hang on you’re a police woman”. Alyssa rolled her eyes. As much as she loved him, he was a little oblivious at times.

“And you're breaking and entering”, Amy reminded him “You see how this works?”

“But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?” the Doctor questioned “Little Scottish girl. We promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose we must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?”

“Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time”, Amy replied.

“How long?” the Doctor asked really hoping nothing bad had happened to the little Scottish girl.

“6 months”, Amy answered.

“No. No. No. No! we can't be six months late!” the Time Lord said in disbelief “Ali is a much better pilot than me…probably because Sexy likes her better than me and she talks to her in her head…” the Doctor broke off when Alyssa her cuffed hands over his.

“As much as I love to listen to you ramble, you’re making the nice police lady confused”, Alyssa said nodding to Amy. She looked back at the ginger “what he was trying to say was that we’d _promised_ her 5 minutes”.

“Right”, Amy said slowly before she turned and walked a little ways down the hall.

“What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?” the Doctor called after her but she didn’t answer him.

“We need to talk to whoever owns this house. Warn them that they’re in danger”, Alyssa said to him quietly gesturing to the door at the end of the hall. The Doctor nodded.

“I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now”, the Doctor said loudly.

Amy turned back to him “I live here”, she answered.

“But you're the police”, the Doctor pointed out.

“Even police have to live somewhere dear”, Alyssa said. 

“How many rooms?” the Doctor asked.

“I'm sorry, what?” Amy asked, confused.

“On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now”, the Doctor instructed.

“Why?” Amy questioned.

“Because it will change your life”, the Doctor answered. Amy sighed and counted off the rooms, pointing to the doors as she did so.

 “6”, Alyssa corrected.

“6?” Amy repeated getting rather confused. This was the home she grew up in. she knew there were only FIVE doors on this floor.

“Look”, Alyssa said.

“Look where?” Amy asked, still rather confused.

“Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye. Look behind you”, the Doctor said.

The ginger slowly turned around and did a double take when she saw a door by the stairs. “That's…that is not possible”, Amy breathed, staring at the door “How's that possible?”

“There's a perception filter all around the door”, the Doctor explained. 

“I kinda sensed there was something off about the door”, Alyssa spoke up “didn’t realise that’s what it was until a bit later”.

“But that's a whole room”, Amy continued “That's a whole room I've never even noticed”.

“The filter stops you noticing”, the Doctor said “Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding, and you need to uncuff us now!” He had to get Alyssa and this woman out of the house right now!

“I don't have the key. I lost it”, Amy replied as she slowly started to walk towards the door.

“How can you have lost it?” The Doctor called at the same time as Alyssa said

“Stay away from that door!”

But the ginger didn't listen. Alyssa glanced down at her cuffs which were on her wrists. She didn't really think this through when Amy told her the plan. If only she had a damn key! Then it hit her. She didn't need one. Alyssa focused on the cuffs and smiled when they sprung open. She didn't waste any time jumping to her feet and darting over to Amy. “Don't go in", she said.

“But it's a whole room I didn't even know was there", Amy argued “how can I not go in?”

“Look just wait out here, I'll go in", Alyssa said.

“Ali don't you dare!” the Doctor called having heard what she said “seriously? Do I have a face that no one listens to?” he added when she ignored him and went inside the mystery room. The Doctor frantically searched his pockets for his screwdriver, his hearts hammering away in his chest. He had to get her out of there! She had no idea what kind of danger she'd just walked into... _he_ had no idea what was in that room and it terrified him. He'd already lost her once. He was NOT going to lose her again. “My screwdriver, where is it?” he called, having come up empty in his search of his pockets “is it in the room Ali?”

“No", Alyssa said taking in the room. It was dusty with a few old boxes on the floor; spots of water damage on the walls and a table in the middle of the room. She slowly turned in a 360, confused. While she couldn't see anything sonic screwdriver or Prisoner Zero...there was _something_ in the room. She could sense it. And then she spotted his sonic screwdriver. It was on the table.

“That's weird”, Alyssa murmured.  She was pretty sure that it wasn't on the table a second ago. “Doctor I found your sonic”, she called.

“Must have rolled under the door”, The Doctor’s voice came from the open  doorway.

“Yeah. Then it must have jumped up on the table”, Alyssa said which the Doctor heard. His eyes widened when he realised that Prisoner Zero must’ve put it there.

“Ali get out of there. Now”, he said loud enough for her to hear.

Alyssa was about to pick up the screwdriver when she sensed something behind her. She picked up the screwdriver and slowly turned around. Hanging there was an eel like alien with a mouthful of sharp teeth hanging there.

She stared at the alien. Not moving, not making a sound. Suddenly there was a piercing scream making the alien whip around to face a rather shocked Amy. Alyssa took the opportunity to duck underneath the alien, grabbing Amy's hand and dragging her out of the room. She slammed the door behind them. 

Alyssa quickly handed the Doctor his sonic. What's the bad alien done to you?” he grumbled looking at his beloved sonic as it wasn't working properly.

“Will that door hold it?” Amy asked eyeing the door warily.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. It's an interdimensional multiform from outer space. They're all terrified of wood”, the Doctor said sarcastically.

“You're being rude dear", Alyssa said crouching down reaching for the handcuffs.

“Well...I'm _still_ not ginger love", the Doctor countered.

A bright light flashed around the edges of the door “What's that? What's it doing?” Amy questioned.

“I don't know. Getting dressed?” the Doctor guessed as Alyssa took hold of his cuffs. “Run. Just go” he added “Your back up's coming. We'll be fine”.

“There is no back up”, Amy said.

“I heard you on the radio” the Doctor said looking at her surprised “You called for back-up”.

“I was pretending. It's a pretend radio”, Amy told him.

“You're a policewoman”, the Doctor frowned. 

“I’m a kissogram!” Amy exclaimed, pulling off her hat freeing her long ginger hair. Suddenly the door to the mystery room falls into the hallway, revealing a workman in overalls holding onto a leash which was attached to the collar of the black dog standing next to him.

“But it's just…”Amy began.

“No, it isn't. Look at the faces”, the Doctor said. Alyssa’s eyes flickered between the dog and the man when the former started to bark and growl.

“What?” Amy asked looking down at the Doctor in surprise “I'm sorry, but what?”

“It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two”, the Doctor explained quietly to the women as the man and the dog moved their heads in unison “Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though” the Doctor raised his voice as he asked “Got the voice a bit muddled, did you?” the man and dog looked straight at the Time Lord “Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?”

The multiform didn’t answer, instead it advanced towards the trio “Stay, boy!” the Doctor said sternly and the multiform halted “them and me, we're safe. Want to know why?” the Doctor patted Amy on the feet “She sent for back-up”

“I didn't send for back-up!” Amy shouted.

“I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives” the Doctor said to Amy. To the multiform he said “Okay, yeah, no back up. And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we _had_ back up, you'd have to kill us!”

_Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded._

“What's that?” Alyssa asked.

“Well, that would be back up”, the Doctor replied “Okay, one more time. We do have back up and that's definitely why we're safe”

_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated_

“Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration”, the Doctor amended.

“Maybe you should just stop talking dear”, Alyssa suggested lightly “I think you’re jinxing things”. The multiform turned and walked into one of the rooms. As soon as it was gone, Alyssa grabbed the Doctor's cuffs and concentrated. A moment later the cuffs fell to the floor with a clatter.

The Doctor pecked Alyssa on the lips. “Thanks love", he said before he got to his feet.

The trio then made a run for it down the stairs. “Kissogram?” the Doctor asked flashing his sonic on the lock of the backdoor.

“Yes, a kissogram. Work through it”, Amy said angrily.

“Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?” the Doctor asked her.

“You broke into my house!” Amy exclaimed “It was this or a French maid!” the Doctor walked off, Alyssa and Amy following him. “What's going on? Tell me!” The ginger demanded.

“An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house”, the Doctor explained rather quickly “Any questions?”

“Yes”, Amy replied as Alyssa reached out for the handle of the TARDIS.

“Me too”, the Doctor said he turned to Alyssa who was still standing there, the box’s door where still firmly closed “aren't you gonna open the door?”

“I can't. She's still rebuilding”, Alyssa said regretfully.

“Well that's just fantastic”, the Doctor grumbled. The time when they needed the TARDIS, they couldn't get in!

_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated_

Amy grabbed the Doctor by the arm and tried to pull him away but he resisted when he noticed the shed. “Hang on. That shed” he ran over to it “We destroyed it last time we were here. Smashed it to pieces”.

“So there's a new one”, Amy said.

“Doctor, we need to go now”, Alyssa urged casing  a glance at the backdoor worriedly. She could sense the multiform on the other side. The Doctor heard the urgency in her voice but the shed was bothering him.

“Yeah, but the new one's got old. It's 10 years old at least” he sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger along the wood and tasting “12 years. We're not 6 months late,  12 years late” the Doctor turned and walked back to Amy “You said 6 months. Why did you say 6 months?”

“We've got to go”, the ginger said avoiding his question.

“This matters. This is important” the Doctor pressed “Why did you say 6 months?”

“Why did you say 5 minutes?!” Amy shouted back, her Scottish accent slipping out in her anger. The Doctor gaped at her. The ginger in front of him was Amelia Pond, the little Scottish girl he’d met before, now all grown up.

“What?!”

“Come on!” Alyssa said stepping up, grabbing hold of his hand and pulled him towards the side gate, past the multiform that was now standing in the doorway. Amy hurried after them.

_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated._


	2. Eleventh Hour part 2

 “You're Amelia”, the Doctor stated hurrying after the angry Scottish woman.

“And you're late”, Amy retorted.

“Amelia Pond. You're the little girl”, the Doctor continued.

“I'm Amelia and you're late”, Amy shot back.

“What happened?” the Doctor asked.

“12 years”, Amy reminded him.

“You hit me with a cricket bat”, the Doctor reminded her.

“12 years”, Amy repeated giving him a glare.

“A _cricket_ bat”, the Doctor countered.

“12 _years_ and _4_ psychiatrists”, Amy retorted.

“4 psychiatrists?” the Doctor asked.

“She kept biting them”, Alyssa answered “they kept telling her that we weren't real. My charm bracelet was the only thing that reminded her that we weren't some figment of her imagination”.

“How do you know that?” the Doctor asked “Can you read minds now?”

Alyssa scoffed “I wish. No, she told me"

“You _knew_ she was Amelia”, the Doctor accused “why didn't you say anything?”

“Because she wanted to find out why we were late", Alyssa answered “and I figured I did owe her big time. So I played along, pretended she was a police woman".

 _Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat._ Echoed out from the speakers of an ice cream van several feet in front of them.

“No, no, no, come on…What?” Amy asked staring at the van “We're being staked out by an ice-cream van”. She’d thought they’d left that voice behind at her house along with the multi-form.

The Doctor ran over to the ice cream van, followed by the women. “What's that? Why are you playing that?” he demanded.

“It's supposed to be Claire De Lune”, the Ice cream man explained. He was just a surprised as they were.  Alyssa whipped around when she heard it coming from her left. The message was playing on a jogger’s IPod and woman’s mobile phone.

_Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated._

There was something familiar about the message, like she'd heard it before. But she couldn't recall where.

“Doctor, what's happening?” Amy asked.

_Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated._

The Doctor didn’t answer her, he just turned and leapt over a low white into the pretty front garden. Amy and Alyssa ran around the front.

“Hello!” the Doctor said cheerfully entering the living room of an elderly lady, Mrs Angelo, who was currently flicking through the tv channels, closely followed by Amy and Alyssa “Sorry to burst in. We're doing a special on television faults in this area...” he glanced at Amy’s outfit “Also crimes. Let's have a look” the Doctor took the remote from her.

“I was just about to phone. It's on every channel” the woman then noticed Amy “Oh, hello, Amy dear”, the woman greeted “Are you a policewoman now?”

“Well, sometimes”, Amy said.

“I thought you were a nurse”, Mrs Angelo said remembering the time she saw the ginger dressed as a nurse.

“I can be a nurse”, Amy said with a shrug.

“Or actually a nun?” Mrs Angelo continued.

“I dabble”, Amy said quickly.

“Amy, who are your friends?” Mrs Angelo asked eyeing the Doctor and Alyssa.

“Who's Amy?” the Doctor looked at the ginger “You were Amelia”. 

“Well she's Amy now", Alyssa spoke up “I don't see anything wrong with it".

“Thank you Ali", Amy said pleased that she had the red head on her side in terms of her using the name Amy.

“Amelia Pond was a great name”, the Doctor argued.

“Bit fairy tale”, Amy shot back, using what he said to her about her name all those years ago.

“I know you two, don't I?” Mrs Angelo asked eyeing the Doctor before turning her gaze to Alyssa “I've seen you both somewhere before”.

“Not me. Brand new face…” the Doctor makes a face earning a shake of the head “First time on”.

“I haven't met before either, mam", Alyssa added.

 “I'm not surprised if you think you've  seen Ali before”, the Doctor glanced at Alyssa lovingly “She's kind of hard to forget considering how lovely she is". A dusting of pink appeared on Alyssa’s cheeks at his compliment making the Doctor smile. He loved the fact that he was the only one who could make her blush like that. But he what he loved even more was the fact that one day she was going to be his wife.

 He turned to Amy “And what sort of job's a kissogram?” he asked.

“I go to parties and I kiss people”, Amy cleared her throat “With outfits. It's a laugh”.

“You were a little girl five minutes ago”, the Doctor said in a disapproving tone. 

“You're worse than my aunt”, Amy complained.

“I'm the Doctor. I'm worse than everybody's aunt” the Doctor looked at Mrs Angelo, adding “And that is not how I'm introducing myself”.

“I should hope not”, Alyssa spoke up “its kind of a mouthful”.

The Doctor picked up the radio and used his sonic to go through all the channels, revealing that the voice was being broadcast to the whole world. “Okay, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world”. The Doctor went over to the window, opened it up, sticks his head out and looked up at the sky.

“What's up there? What are you looking for?” Amy asked.

The Doctor pulled his head back inside “Okay. Planet this size, 2 poles, your basic molten core… they're going to need a 40 percent fission blast” a young man enters the room and the Doctor walked up to him “But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium sized starship, that's 20 minutes. What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes” the Doctor turned to the others “We've got 20 minutes”.

“20 minutes till what?” Alyssa asked. Before the Doctor could answer her, the young man spoke up.

“Are you the Doctor?”

“He is, isn't he?” Mrs Angelo cheered “He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little Amy. The Raggedy Doctor. It's him”. Mrs Angelo looked at Alyssa “which means you’re Alyssa. You’re the one who supposedly gave her the charm bracelet that she’s worn everyday”.

“She _did_ give me the bracelet”, Amy insisted slightly embarrassed that Mrs Angelo brought up the cartoons.

“Cartoons?” the Doctor asked looking at her bemused before going to sit on the sofa.

“Gran, it's them, isn't it? It's really them!” the young man cheered.

“Jeff shush”, Amy hissed, giving an annoyed look “20 minutes to what?” she asked the Doctor who was looking at the TV where the alien’s warning was still being played.

“The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship, and it's going to incinerate the planet” the Doctor looked at Alyssa and Amy “20 minutes to the end of the world”.

Alyssa looked at the TV and the eye on it. Then it finally clicked. She knew why the message was familiar. She’d heard it before in Greece while she was on holiday with her ex. She fished out her mobile from her pocket and held it out to the Doctor. “We don’t have time for a phone call”, he said looking confused.

“You’re going to have to make time. Long story short, there is another me currently on holiday with Ben in Greece. She’s just seen the message on her phone and is going to call the Doctor to find out whats going on. She gets you instead of previous you”, Alyssa explained. The Time Lord still looked confused “just call her and explain the situation”, Alyssa said. Now that she remembered why the message was so familiar, the memory of that day came rushing to the surface. So she also knew that she’d received a phone call from the Doctor that was sitting on the sofa. The Doctor took the phone from her and dialled.

“Hey D-“, early-Alyssa said before he interrupted her.

“Ali I know you’ve seen the message but there’s no need for concern. Sure I’ve only got 20 minutes to save the world before it gets roasted but don’t you worry just enjoy your holiday”, he explained and then hung up. “Well that was a first for me”, the Doctor remarked handing the phone back to Alyssa.

“Tell me about it. It was weird getting that call from you”, Alyssa said.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So where exactly are we Amy?” Alyssa asked as they walked down the road.

“Leadworth”, Amy answered.

“Where's the rest of it?” the Doctor asked looking around.

“This is it”, the ginger replied.

“Is there an airport?” the Doctor questioned.

“No”, Amy said.

“A nuclear power station?” the Doctor continued.

“No”, Amy repeated.

“Even a little one?” the Doctor queried.

“No”, Amy said for the third time.

“Nearest city?” the Doctor asked.

“Gloucester. Half an hour by car”, Amy answered.

“Do we have a car?” Alyssa asked.

“No”, Amy told her.

“Well, that's good. Fantastic, that is. Twenty minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut”, the Doctor said crossly. He then noticed an empty pond. “What’s that?” the Doctor asked running over to it.

“It's a duck pond”, Amy answered.

“Why aren't there any ducks?” the Doctor asked.

“20 minutes to save the world Doctor and you’re wondering about a duck pond”, Alyssa spoke “One word: priorities”.

“You’re right Ali. Prior…” the Doctor broke off with a painful cry “This is too soon. I'm not ready, I'm not done yet”. Alyssa crouched next to him, looking at him worried.

“What's happening? Why's it going dark?” Amy asked looking up as the sky darkened. Alyssa also looked up and saw the sun blocked over. Instantly her mind went back to her holiday.

_“Ali look at the sun”, Ben said looking up and seeing the sun darken. The red head looked up at it along with everyone else that was there at the pool._

_“Whats wrong with it?” Alyssa asked._

_“I’ve got no idea”, Ben replied._

“So what's wrong with the sun?” Amy asked as she didn’t get any answers from her previous questions.

“Nothing. You're looking at it through a force field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere. Now they're getting ready to boil the planet”, the Doctor replied getting to his feet with the help of Alyssa. “Oh, and here they come. The human race. The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone”, the Doctor added noticing all the people pulling out phones and taking photos of the sun.

Alyssa felt the phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out “it’s for you. Other me has just seen what happened to the sun”, she said. The Doctor took it from her.

“Ali this…” the Doctor started when early-Alyssa interrupted him.

“Shut up. I don’t know who you are or why you have the Doctor’s phone but I want answers. You said that you only had 20 minutes before the earth gets roasted and now something has happened to the sun. What is going on?”

“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you. It’s kind of a Spoiler”, he replied. It was weird talking to an Alyssa who didn’t yet know who he was while the red head was standing there watching him.

“That’s not an answer”, early-Alyssa said.

“Listen I’ve now got less than 20 minutes to save the world. You’re just going to have to trust me”, the Doctor told her.

“Guess I’ve got no choice”, early-Alyssa sighed.

“Not really. Got to go Ali”, he said hanging up. The Doctor turned to Alyssa “Any more calls I should know about?” he asked.

“Nope. That was it”, Alyssa replied.

“Good. Now we can get on with saving the world. Again”, the Doctor said with a slightly grumble.

“This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind up”, Amy said.

“Why would we wind you up?” the Doctor asked.

“You told me you had a time machine”, Amy said.

“And you believed me”, the Doctor reminded her.

“Then I grew up”, Amy said.

“Oh, you never want to do that”, the Doctor told her “No. Hang on. Shut up. Wait. I missed it”, he smacked his forehead “I saw it and I missed it”.

“Missed what?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t know”, the Doctor answered “it was something I saw…something important…”

Alyssa slowly looked at their surroundings wondering what it was that he saw. She frowned slightly seeing a young man wearing scrubs facing away from the sun. He wasn’t even looking at it unlike everyone else. Alyssa edged around to try and get a better look at what had captured the young man’s attention. Her eyes widened when she saw it was none other than Prisoner Zero!

“What did I see?”, the Doctor muttered.

“Uh…Doctor? That young man is taking pictures of Prisoner Zero”, Alyssa said pointing at the young man. The Doctor spun around and looked at who she was pointing out.

“That’s what I saw!” he cheered “Ali, I love you”.

“I know”, Alyssa said with a smile “shall we go say hi?”

“We shall”, the Doctor answered. He took her hand and they ran off across the green towards the scrub wearing man. The Time Lord snatched the phone out of his hand. “The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?” he demanded.

Before Rory could reply, Amy ran up, slightly slower than Alyssa and the Doctor due to the skirt she was wearing “Amy”, he said to his girlfriend.

“Hi Rory”, Amy greeted.

“Man and dog. Why?” the Doctor demanded knowing they were wasting valuable time by chatting. He needed to know why Rory was taking pictures of Prisoner Zero.

“Oh my God, it's _them_ ”, Rory breathed staring at Alyssa and the Doctor when he realised that was who was standing in front of him.

“Just answer his question, please”, Alyssa said sensing the Doctor’s growing annoyance.

“It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor”, Rory continued “and the woman who gave you her ‘prized possession’”.

“Yeah…they came back”, Amy said.

“But he was a story. He was a game”

The Doctor grabbed him by the shirt, just wanting to get some answers “Man and dog. Why? Tell me now”, he ordered.

“Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's…”

“In a hospital, in a coma” the Doctor and Rory said in unison.

“Yeah”, Rory said rather dumbfounded at what had just happened.

 “Knew it. Multiform, you see?” The Doctor let’s go of his shirt “Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a life feed. A psychic link with a living” he poked Rory in the forehead “but dormant mind”.

Prisoner Zero barks at them, catching their attention. “Prisoner Zero”, the Doctor said stepping forward.

“What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?” Rory asked Amy.

“Yes”

There is an electrical buzzing overhead and they all look up to see a star shaped spaceship fly over the green, the eye in the middle, the same eye that they’d seen on Mrs Angelo’s TV, swivelled back and forth.

The Doctor subtly pulled out his sonic from his pocket “See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver” he held it up above his head and presses the button, turning it on.

Streetlights shatter; car alarms around them started blaring and people starting shouting at the chaos. Alyssa clapped a hand over her mouth trying to hold back her laughter at firemen chasing after their fire engine that was driving down the road, on its own.

“I think someone's going to notice, don't you?” the Doctor asked. He pointed his sonic at the red telephone box making it explode. The Time Lord’s plan seemed to be working as the eye started to look over in their direction. But suddenly the sonic sparks, causing the Doctor to drop it “No, no! No, don't do that!” he shouted annoyed that his sonic just had to give out at that moment.

“Look, it's going”, Rory said watching the ship fly away.

The Doctor looked up “No, come back. He's here!” he called “Come back! He's here. Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is…”

Prisoner Zero turns into a mist and escaped down the drain, unnoticed by everyone except Amy. “Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain”, she stated. 

“Well, of course it did”, the Doctor muttered, still annoyed over the loss of his sonic.

“So what do we do now?” Alyssa asked as they walked over to the drain. 

“Prisoner Zero is hiding in human form so we need to drive it into the open” the Doctor replied “No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think!”

“So that thing, THAT hid in my house for twelve years?” Amy questioned as she glanced down the drain.

“Multiforms can live for millennia. Twelve years is a pit-stop”, the Doctor replied.

“So how come you both show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute!” Amy said crossly.

“They're looking for him, but they followed us”, the Doctor said “They saw Ali and I through the crack, got a fix, they're only late because we are”. 

“What's he on about?” Rory asked confused.

“Nurse boy, give me your phone”, the Doctor demanded.

“How can he be real?” Rory asked Amy “He was never real”.

“Phone. Now. Give me”, the Doctor ordered. Rory gave the phone over to the Time Lord.

“He was just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him”, Rory said to Amy as the Doctor flicked through the photos “ _you_ dressed up as Ali”.

“These photos, they're are all coma patients?” he asked Rory.

“Yeah”, Rory confirmed.

“No, they're all the multiform” the Time Lord corrected him “Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero”.

“He had a dog, though”, Amy reminded them “There's a dog in a coma?”

Alyssa shook her head “there isn’t a dog in a coma. The patient dreams that he’s walking a dog so Prisoner gets a dog”, she explained. 

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, love, the Doctor said proudly. He turned to Amy “Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him” he gestured to Rory “the good-looking one”.

“Thanks”, Rory said offended.

“Jeff”, Amy replied quickly.                                                                                                                

“Oh, thanks”, Rory said even more offended that his own girlfriend thought Jeff was better looking than him.

“He had a laptop in his bag”, the Doctor said “A laptop. Big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop. You two” he gestured to Rory and Amy “get to the hospital, get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone us when you're done”. Without waiting for Amy or Rory to respond, the Doctor took hold of Alyssa’s hand and rushed off.

~Jeff's bedroom~

The Doctor burst into Jeff’s bedroom, startling the young man who was lounging on his bed, using his laptop. “Hello. Laptop. Give me!” the Time Lord grabbed the laptop but Jeff was reluctant to give it up.

“No, no, no, no, wait”, the young man said struggling to maintain his grip on the laptop.

“It's fine. Give it here”, The Doctor pulled harder.

“Hang on!” Jeff tried, but lost his grip. The Doctor sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes widening when he saw what the man had been looking at on his laptop “Blimey. Get a girlfriend, Jeff”, he said, quickly slapping the lid down when Alyssa tried to have a look “it’s not appropriate for you”, he told her. The Doctor waited for her to move back before he opened the lid, closing down the page. A moment later, Mrs Angelo entered the room.

“Gran”, Jeff said in a panic.

“What are you doing?” the elderly woman asked the Doctor who was now typing away on the laptop.

“The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big old video conference call” Alyssa sat next to him watching him type away “All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need?”

“Let me guess…he has floppy brown hair, green eyes…very handsome…oh and happens to be my future husband”, Alyssa said earning a smile from the Time Lord.

“Got it in one, love”, the Doctor said.

“And here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore”, the Doctor said pointing at various lines of code.

“I like Patrick Moore”, Mrs Angelo remarked.

“I'll get you his number. But watch him, he's a devil”, the Doctor warned.

“You can't just hack in on a call like that”, Jeff protested.

“I think he just did”, Alyssa said as 6 faces appeared on the screen.

The Doctor held his psychic paper to the webcam.

“Who are you?” Patrick Moore asked.

“This is a secure call, what are you doing here?” another expert questioned.

“Hello. Yeah, I know you should switch me off, but before you do, watch this”, the Doctor started typing again.

“It's here too, I'm getting it”, another expert said as a visual of what the Doctor was typing in appeared on their screens.

“Fermat's Theorem, the proof. And I mean the real one. Never been seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down” the Doctor looked up at Mrs Angelo, still typing “My fault. I slept in” the Doctor looked down at the laptop screen, continuing his typing “Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie. Why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention”.

\-------------

Alyssa watched as the Doctor typed something into Rory’s mobile a few minutes later “Sir, what are you doing?” Patrick Moore asked watching him on the screen.

“I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super fast, and a tiny bit alive but don't let on” the Doctor explained quickly “And why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. Okay, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish, whatever you've got. Any questions?”

“Who’s your lady friend?” Patrick Moore asked seeing Alyssa.

“Mine”, the Doctor replied winding an arm around her waist, tugging her closer to him.

“Possessive much?” Alyssa asked with a smile.

“Well, since you’re the love of my lives and my future wife…then yes, I’m possessive”, the Doctor said “is that a problem?”

“Nope, not at all”, Alyssa said.

The Doctor kissed her temple “good”, he said.

“What does this virus do?” another expert questioned.

“It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters. It gets in the WIFI and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain…” there was silence at that. The Doctor looked at Jeff “Jeff, you're my best man”, he said quietly.

“You what?” Jeff was rather taken aback by that. He didn’t expect the Doctor to call him ‘his best man’.

The Doctor closed the laptop lid partway “Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff, right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world”

While the Doctor spoke, a smile appeared on Alyssa’s face. It seemed this regeneration was quite good with speeches, as much as he was with rambling. “Why me?” Jeff asked.

“It's your bedroom” the Doctor replied standing up “Now go, go, go”, he urged. Alyssa got up and they hurried out of the room. Once they’d gone, Jeff opened up the laptop.

“Okay, guys, let's do this”, he said.

Jeff barely started to type when the Doctor stuck his head through the open door way “Oh, and delete your internet history”, he said and then left.

“Right we gotta get to the hospital”, the Doctor murmured “in less than 10 minutes”.

Alyssa glanced around and brightened when she spotted a fire engine, abandoned. “And I’ve a found us a way to get there”, she said and pointed at the fire engine. The Doctor grinned.

“Brilliant”, he said giving her a peck before they hurried over to it.

\-----------------

It didn’t take long for the Doctor and Alyssa to reach the hospital with the fire engine they commandeered. They climbed up the ladder and in through the broken window. “Hello. Am I late?” the Doctor asked Amy and Rory. He looked at the clock above the door “No, three minutes to go. So still time”, he said answering his own question. 

“Time for what, Time Lord?” prisoner zero asked disguised as a mother with two girls.

“Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies”, the Doctor replied walking forward.

“The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire”, Prisoner Zero said.

“Okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave”, the Doctor ordered.

“I did not open the crack”, Prisoner Zero said.

“But someone did”, Alyssa spoke up.

“The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you?” Zero asked. When the Doctor didn’t answer the other alien taunted him in a little girl’s voice. “The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know. Doesn't know!” it switches back to the woman’s voice “The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall”

“And we're off! Look at that. Look at that!” the Doctor said pointing at the clock. The time now showed 0:00. Alyssa looked at the clock and remembered the text she received. She took out the Doctor’s phone and sent a message to herself. One word: ‘Geronimo’.

“Yeah, I know, just a clock. Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is Zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here”, the Doctor explained holding up Rory’s phone.

“I think they just found us”, Alyssa added when a bright light shined through the window.

“The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me”, Prisoner Zero said.

“Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Ooo, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man?” the Doctor asked holding his arms out. He looked at Alyssa, Amy and Rory none of whom looked at all impressed. “Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine”, he said disappointed.

“Then I shall take a new form”, Prisoner Zero stated.

“Oh, stop it. You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link”, the Doctor reminded it.

“And you’ve brought your own powerful physic”, Prisoner Zero retorted. Alyssa collapsed onto the hard hospital floor.

“Ali!” the Doctor exclaimed hurrying over. “Ali love, don’t sleep. You’ve got to stay awake, please”, he said cupping her face.

“Uh…Doctor”, Rory said noticing that Prisoner Zero had changed into a copy of Alyssa. The Doctor glanced up at it for a moment before turning his attention to the unconscious Time Lady.

“Ali, listen to me. You’re stronger than Prisoner Zero, you _can_ beat it”, the Doctor said.

“Oh, Doctor…she’s not as strong as you think. And that’s your all fault. You never really encouraged her with her full potential… _you_ were too afraid of her”, Prisoner Zero mocked. The Doctor just ignored it, focusing on Alyssa. He took her hand.

“Love. Think about that room you went in. Think about what you saw”, the Time Lord urged. He watched as her face twitched.

“No. No. No!” Prisoner Zero cried. The Doctor glanced up and watched as Prisoner Zero transformed from Alyssa into the eel like alien that both the Time Lady and Amy had seen.

The Doctor smirked, standing up to face Prisoner Zero “Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself”

A white light shines through the window, trapping the alien “Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained”, the Atraxi declared.

“Silence, Doctor” Prisoner Zero hissed as it started to fade “Silence will fall”.

There was a whoosh as the ship started to leave. “The sun” Rory glanced out the window seeing it go back to normal “It's back to normal, right? That's…that's good, yeah? That means it's over”. Alyssa then started to stir, catching his and Amy’s attention. 

 

“Doctor, Ali’s coming around”, Amy called.

The Doctor turned and hurried over to her side “hey love”, he said softly.

“Hi”, Alyssa said “is it over?”

“Not quite, there’s one tiny thing I’ve got to do first”, the Doctor said and helped her stand. He then took out Rory’s phone from his pocket “Sorry, in advance Rory”, he said as he started to type.

“About what?” Rory asked.

“The bill” the  Doctor put the phone to his ear “Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What…? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now!” The Doctor hung up the phone and tossed it to Rory “Okay, now I've done it”.

He took Alyssa’s hand and strode out of the ward. Amy and Rory followed after them. “Did you just really call the Atraxi back just to give them a telling them off?” Alyssa asked the Doctor as they walked.

“I did”, the Doctor replied “that a problem?”

Alyssa shook her head “Nope. They deserve it as they did threaten to burn this planet”, she said.

“Where are you going?” Amy called to them.

“The roof” the Doctor replied “No, hang on” he veered off course into a changing room. He let go of Alyssa’s hand to sift through the clothes, tossing aside any items that didn’t appeal to him.

“What's in here?” Amy asked.

“I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!” the Doctor said.

“You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off”, Rory said as the Time Lord started removing his ruined clothes “Amy, he's taking his clothes off”, he said to his girlfriend.

“Turn your back if it embarrasses you”, the Doctor said still taking the items off. Alyssa ushered Rory and Amy out of the room and shut the door. She walked over to the lockers to find something that she could wear until she could get into the TARDIS.

It didn’t take long for her to find a decent button up shirt and a pair of jeans in her size. Alyssa set the clothes down and began to remove her ruined ones. The Doctor happened to glance at her as she was taking off her top. He quickly adverted his gaze. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her…they _had_ made love or more than one occasion…but he knew that if he let his gaze linger for too long he might get the urge to start something…and they really didn’t have time for that right now.

~Roof~

The Doctor and Alyssa walked out onto the roof a few minutes later having put together an outfit each from the items that were available. “So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving”, Amy called hanging back with Rory while the Time Lords walked forward to address the Atraxi that was hovering over the roof.

“Leaving is good. Never coming back is better” the Doctor replied “Come on, then!” he shouted “The Doctor will see you now”.

The eye disconnected from the ship and scanned the pair “You are not of this world”, the Atraxi stated.

“Well technically I am of this world”, Alyssa corrected “I just had a bit of a species change, that’s all”.

“And I’ve put a lot of work into this world”, the Doctor added examining one of the ties around his neck “Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think love?”

In response Alyssa tugged the tie from his neck and tossed it behind them.

“Is this world important?” the Atraxi asked not answering his question about the tie.

“Important? What's that mean, important?” the Doctor asked “6 billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?” he showed Alyssa another tie and she shook her head. The Time Lord threw that one over his shoulder “Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?”

The Atraxi projects a hologram of the Earth with scenes from history “No”

“Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?” the Doctor asked.

“No”

“Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here” as he spoke numerous different aliens appeared one after the other on the projection “Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is…what happened to them?” the projection showed all his incarnations from his first all the way to his tenth. The Doctor stepped through the image of his tenth incarnation “Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically…run!”

They all watched the ship fly away pretty fast. Alyssa gasped when she felt the TARDIS key heat up against her skin. She pulled the chain out from under her t-shirt. The key was glowing. Alyssa looked at the Doctor who was also holding his key which was glowing too. The Time Lord held out his hand to Alyssa and she took it. Together they ran out of the hospital towards Amy’s house, hand in hand like they had done many times before.

“Ready to see what Sexy looks like now?” Alyssa asked.

“Yep”, the Doctor said and unlocked the blue box. Alyssa let out a small noise in surprise when the Doctor picked her up, bridal style.

“Shouldn’t you waiting to do this on our wedding night?” Alyssa asked.

“Thought I might as well get the practice in”, the Doctor replied before he stepped over the threshold of the TARDIS. “Look at you. Oh, you sexy thing!” the Doctor remarked taking in the console room “Look at you”, the Doctor glanced at the woman in his arms “Ali what do you think?”

“It’s different”, Alyssa answered. 

**_Good different?_ **

“Absolutely Sexy”, Alyssa replied “you know, since the console room has changed…I wonder if our room has changed too”. The Doctor smiled at her before he took off into the depths of the ship to look for their room. Alyssa had to stifle a laugh at how eager he was.

~bedroom~

“Is that really what I look like?” Alyssa asked regarding her reflection. She was incredibly surprised to see that essentially she was still the same person. Ok, there were some differences. She was pretty sure that she was a little taller. Her hair had strands of gold running through it which she could guess was maybe as a result of her merge with the TARDIS. Even her green eyes had little speckles of gold in them too! But aside from that and the fact that her hair was closer to her elbow _and_ the fact that she was now a Time Lady…she still looked like herself prior to the regeneration. “I thought I would’ve changed completely, like you did”, she added turning to the Doctor.

“Well it is your first regeneration _and_ you were once a human so maybe that’s got something to do with it”, the Doctor guessed. He really didn’t know if that was actually that case or it was something else. Secretly he was grateful that she hadn’t changed completely like he had. It was a big deal to have gone from human to Time Lady…and at least this way she only had to get used to a few physical differences, appearance wise. “How do you feel?” he asked. Alyssa hadn’t reacted the way he had to the regeneration. She seemed perfectly fine. Which he was also pleased about.

“I feel fine”, Alyssa replied “though having an extra heart feels a bit…weird. But I’ll get used to it”.

“Good”, the Doctor said “that’s good”.

“So…what did you want to do now?” Alyssa asked.

“Well, I have an idea”, the Doctor stated, his gaze going over to the bed.

“Oh, I don’t know Doctor. You sure you’re up to it?” Alyssa teased, knowing fully well what he wanted to do. The Doctor just smirked at her as he moved forward, taking her face in his hands and kissed her.

“I’m more than up to it”, the Doctor murmured against her lips.

~Amy’s garden~

“Sorry about running off earlier Amy”, Alyssa said apologetically “we were just pretty excited to see what the new TARDIS looked like”.

“And then we had to run her in: quick hop to the moon and back”, the Doctor added. It wasn’t technically a lie. They did go to the moon to make sure that the controls were working properly but it wasn’t all they did. But he wasn’t about to share the rather…intimate moment…or 3 that he’d had with his fiancé. Nope, that was been him, Alyssa and the four walls of their bedroom. “She’s ready for the big stuff now”, the Doctor pattered the TARDIS.

“It's you. You came back”, Amy stated staring at them both.

“Course we came back”, the Doctor “Something wrong with that?”

“And you kept the clothes”, Amy added eyeing his outfit. She noted that Alyssa had changed hers.

The Doctor glanced down at himself then back up at Amy. “Well, I just saved the world. The whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me. I kept the clothes”, he said.

“Including the bow tie”, Amy said nodding to it.

“Yeah, it's cool” the Doctor fiddled with the Bow tie “Bow ties are cool”.

“Are you two from another planet?” Amy suddenly asked.

“I am, Ali isn’t”, the Doctor replied.

“Bit of a long story”, Alyssa said “short version: born a human. TARDIS changed me into a Time Lady”.

“Uh huh”,  Amy said though she was still a bit confused.

“So what do you think?” the Doctor asked.

“Of what?” Amy asked.

“Other planets. Want to check some out?”

“What does that mean?” Amy asked wondering if by his question, he was asking her to travel with him in the TARDIS.

“It means…well, it means…come with us”, the Doctor elaborated.

“Where?” Amy asked.

“Wherever you like Amy”, Alyssa answered “it’s a big old universe”.

“All that stuff that happened. The hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero…” Amy began.

“Oh, don't worry, that's just the beginning” the Doctor cut in “There's loads more”.

“Yeah, but those things, those amazing things…all that stuff…” Amy took a step forward, now angry “That was two years ago!”

Alyssa smacked the Doctor over the back of the head. “Ow!” he cried rubbing his head.

“I told you not to distract me while I’m piloting”, she said sternly “Do you want me to put you on another ban?”

The Doctor’s eyes widened “No! There’s no need to do that. I won’t distract you next time, I promise”, he said quickly.

“I’m holding you to that”, Alyssa said before she turned to Amy “I’m really sorry. If _someone_ hadn’t distracted me…” she threw a look at the Doctor “we would’ve been here a few hours after we left” she regarded the young woman “Amy Pond you’ve waited 14 years. That’s long enough in my opinion”. Alyssa lightly touched the TARDIS door and it swung open, bathing the ginger in a warm orange glow. “Go on in”, Alyssa urged seeing her hesitation “there’s plenty of room, don’t worry”.

Amy stepped inside the TARDIS and her mouth dropped open. It was bigger on the inside! The Doctor and Alyssa entered behind her, the Doctor closing the door. “Well…? Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all”, he said. 

He walked up the steps to the console, Alyssa following him. Amy on the other hand, stayed put as she was still rather overwhelmed. “I'm in my nightie”, Amy breathed unable to come up with anything to say.

“Oh, don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe”, the Doctor assured her “And possibly a swimming pool. So…all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will…where do you want to start?”

“You are so sure that I'm coming”, Amy said coming up the stairs to stand by Alyssa.

“Yeah, I am”, the Doctor said confidently as he walked around the console.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Cause you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know how that feels”, the Doctor replied.

“Oh, do you?” Amy asked brow raised.

“All these years living here, most of your life, and you've still got that accent” the Doctor pointed at her “Yeah, you're coming” he tapped a on a bell a couple of times.

“Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?” Amy challenged.

“It's a time machine. I can get you back 5 minutes ago…” the Doctor began when Alyssa cut in with

“ _I_ can get you back 5 minutes ago. As long as I’m not distracted. So what’s tomorrow?”

“Nothing. Nothing”, Amy said evasively “Just you know, stuff”. 

“All right, then. Back in time for stuff”, the Doctor said. A new sonic then popped up from the console’s surface “Oh! A new one!” the Doctor said delighted, picking it up and trying it out “Lovely” he pocketed the sonic and patted the console “Thanks, dear”.

“Why me?” Amy asked after taking another look around the place.

“Why not?” the Doctor asked looking up from where he was working at the controls.

“Well… you are asking the me to away with you in the middle of the night”, Amy pointed out.

“Us”, the Doctor corrected “you’re running away with us”.

“Right, yeah…”, Amy said “So why me?” she asked wanting to change the subject.

“I don't know”, the Doctor replied “Fun. Do I have to have a reason?”

“People always have a reason”, Amy countered.

“Do I look like people?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes”, Amy replied “really though…what’s the reason?”

“So, are you okay, then?” the Doctor suddenly asked, avoiding answering her question “Because this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit…you know”.

“I'm fine”, Amy answered a little put out that he’d avoided her question “It's just…there's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought. Well…I started to think that maybe you were just like a madman with a box”.

“Amy Pond, there's something you'd better understand about me, because it's important, and one day your life may depend on it…” the Doctor said seriously.

“He is most definitely a mad man with a box”, Alyssa interrupted. She kissed his cheek “my mad man”.

“My brilliant Ali”, the Doctor countered “want to do the honours love?”

“Sure”, Alyssa said moving over to the lever that’ll send them off into the vortex “As your last self would say…allonsy!”

She pulled the lever making the Doctor and Amy grab hold of the console TARDIS jolted.


	3. The Beast Below part 1

Alyssa stood by the open doorway of the TARDIS smiling as she watched Amy float in space, the Doctor’s hand firmly clamped on her ankle. It felt like a life time ago since she’d asked if she could do the same thing. Though in the ginger’s case, the Doctor had actually _pushed_ her out of the TARDIS due to the fact that Amy still couldn’t believe that they were in space.

“Come on, Pond”, the Doctor said gently pulling her back inside “you wanna have a go love?” he asked his fiancé “you really enjoyed it last time”.

“I think I’ll take a pass this time”, Alyssa said “So Amy Pond. Do you believe us now?” she asked the ginger.

“Yeah…yeah I do”, Amy said breathless from all the excitement. She took a breath “What are we breathing?” she asked.

“I've extended the air shell” the Doctor assured her “We're fine”.

Alyssa looked down and was surprised to see what appeared to be a large city drifting past underneath them “that’s interesting”, she remarked getting the attention of the other two.

“29th century”, the Doctor said, squatting down and examining the ‘city’ “Solar flares roast the earth” he stood up and ran over to the console, Alyssa following him “and the entire human race packs its bags” he started working at the controls “and moves out till the weather improves. Whole nations…”

“Doctor? Ali?” Amy called as she floated out of the TARDIS, quickly grabbing onto the roof of the box but neither of them heard her.

“…Migrating to the stars”

“Doctor? Alyssa” Amy called louder. This time Alyssa heard her. She looked around and frowned when she didn’t see the ginger anywhere.

“Amy?” she called “where are you?”

“Out here!” Amy shouted from the open doorway. The Time Lady ran over to the doorway and found the ginger clinging tightly onto the roof. She reached out a hand to her friend who grabbed it and pulled her inside, closing the doors afterwards.

A moment later the Doctor, Alyssa and Amy were looking at a close up of the ‘city’/ship on the large round monitor on the TARDIS’s wall “This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal” the Doctor explained “That's not just a ship, that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and…shopping” Amy and Alyssa chuckled at that “Searching the stars for a new home”. 

“It’s brilliant. The ingenuity of the human race”, Alyssa said feeling fairly proud as she looked at Starship UK.

“Can we go out and see?” Amy asked excited at the prospect of exploring another spaceship.

“Course we can but first, there's a thing”, the Doctor said seriously going over to the console.

“A thing?” Amy frowned.

“An important thing. In fact, thing one” the Doctor pulled out a magnifying glass and looked at the women through it “We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets”. 

Alyssa couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “Something funny, love?” the Doctor asked.

“Yeah, there is”, Alyssa replied “you’ve _never ever_ been just an observer. You always manage to get involved”.

“Not always”, the Doctor insisted.

“Ok, name one time you didn’t get involved”, Alyssa said.

“Oh, that’s easy”, the Doctor said confidently “there was…um…”.

“Knew you couldn’t do it”, Alyssa said smugly.

“No, I can…I just...I’ll get back to you on that later”, the Doctor said.

“Mmm…hmm”, Alyssa hummed, highly doubtful.

“Ooh! That’s interesting”, the Doctor suddenly remarked seeing the image on the scanner of a little girl sitting alone crying. The two females turned to look at the screen, Alyssa’s heart going out for the girl. She always had a soft spot for children.

“So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?” Amy asked, neither woman noticing that the Doctor had slipped out of the TARDIS “Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die” Amy frowned watching the girl sob “It's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that”.

“I couldn’t do it either”, Alyssa agreed. Then she noticed the Doctor wasn’t there. “Hey, where’d he go?” she asked. As if answering her question, the Time Lord suddenly appeared on the screen. Amy and Alyssa watched as he spoke to the young girl for a moment before the girl got up and ran away. The Doctor looked at the camera and waved at them to come and join him.

“Better go. Don’t want him to get into trouble he can’t get out of”, Alyssa said turning and heading for the door.

“You think he’d do that?” Amy asked as she followed her.

“Let’s just say he’s a bit of a trouble magnet”, Alyssa answered taking hold of the door handle and pulling open the door.

 _Welcome to London Market. You are being monitored_ the Tannoy announced as the pair stepped out of the TARDIS.

“Wow”, Alyssa breathed as she and Amy looked around in amazement, seeing stars through the arched glass ceiling. The market stretched before them, numerous stalls and booths dotted about with vendors selling their wares. Though she’d been to different planets…seen alien market places, Shan Shen for example, she never could get over the thrill of being somewhere new. If that ever happened…well she might as well stop travelling.

“You said it”, Amy agreed taking another look around “we’re in the future. Like hundreds of years in the future” she then realised something “I've been dead for centuries”.

“Way to be a Debbie downer”, Alyssa commented.

“Sorry”, Amy said apologetically.

“Never mind dead”, the Doctor said “Look at this place. Isn't it wrong?”

“What's wrong?” Amy asked. She hadn’t seen anything that looked obviously wrong to her. The Doctor took Alyssa’s hand and started to walk, Amy following.

“Come on, use your eyes. Notice everything” the Doctor said as they walked “What's wrong with this picture?” Alyssa looked around but she couldn’t see anything wrong with the place.

“Is it…the bicycles?” Amy questioned pointing to a rickshaw as it passed by “Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles”

“Says the girl in the nightie”, the Doctor countered.

“Oh my God!” Amy gasped as though she just remembered what she was wearing “I'm in my nightie”.

“Well…you did run away with us in the middle of the _night_ ”, the Time Lady reminded her.

 “Now, come on, look around you” the Doctor urged as he stopped walking “Actually _look_ ”.

 _London Market is a crime-free zone_ the tannoy announced.

 _Nothing is ever crime free_ Alyssa thought glancing around once more. She still couldn’t see anything wrong, but the ground where she was standing didn’t feel right. No vibrations. On a ship this size there _should_ be vibrations. She should be able to feel them under her feet. But she can’t.

“Life on a giant starship, back to basics” the Doctor sighed “Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me” the Doctor ran over to a table, pulling Alyssa along with him as he was still holding her hand. With his free hand, he picked up a glass of water and set it on the floor. The Doctor looked at the water intently, Alyssa looking at it as well before frowning. The water was still. Too still. _That’s not right_ she thought _not right at all._

The Doctor put the water back on the table “Sorry”, he said looking at the people at the table “Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish” he tapped the side of his nose before leading Alyssa back over to Amy “Where was I?”

“Why did you just do that with the water?” Amy asked confused.

“Don't know” the Doctor replied “I think a lot. It's hard to keep track” Alyssa wondered why he wasn’t mentioning the lack of vibrations on the ship. Before she could say anything, the Doctor spoke again “Now, police state. Do you see it yet?”

“Where?” Amy looked around, still not seeing what was wrong.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed “There”, he said. Amy and Alyssa followed his gaze over to a couple of benches. On one of them was the girl they’d seen earlier, still crying. The trio walked over to a bench and sat down, watching the girl. From this proximity, Alyssa could sense the girl’s emotions. Something or someone had upset her greatly.

“One little girl crying”, Amy stated “So?” She didn’t mean for it to sound heartless or anything, seeing a child cry was awful but she didn’t see what was wrong with that. Children cry all the time.

 “Crying silently”, the Doctor corrected her “I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently…”

“It’s because they just can't stop”, Alyssa added, her twin hearts aching in sympathy for the girl.

 “Any parent knows that”, the Doctor finished.

“Are you either of you a parent?” Amy asked. Alyssa opened her mouth to reply but the Doctor beat her to it.

“Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them is asking her what’s wrong, which means…they already know, and it’s something they don’t talk about. Secrets. They’re not helping her, so its something they’re afraid of. Shadows…whatever they’re afraid of…its nowhere to be seen, which means its everywhere. Police state” the Doctor explained, clearly avoiding answering Amy’s question. Alyssa knew it affected him, as she could feel the slight shift in his emotions. Also his hand had tightened around hers. She knew that he’d been a father before Jenny _and_ she was very aware of how anything to do with Gallifrey was still a very sensitive subject.

While he’d been talking the young girl had gotten up from the other bench and entered a lift. “Where'd she go?” Amy asked after glancing over to the bench to see it was vacant.

“Deck two oh seven. Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A” the Doctor replied “You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh…” he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a colourful wallet “this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her” the Doctor handed the wallet to Amy.

“You accidently ‘bumped’ into her”, Alyssa said putting air quotes around the word bumped with her free hand as the Doctor was still clutching onto her other one “meaning you did it on purpose just to get her wallet”.

“Took me four goes”, the Doctor admitted not even bothering to deny the fact that Alyssa was right “Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths” he nodded at one “They're everywhere”.

“But they're just things” Amy shook her head.

“They're clean” the Doctor pointed out “Everything else here is all battered and filthy. Look at this place” now that the Doctor had said that, Alyssa could see the difference between the booths and the rest of the place. She hadn’t noticed that before he pointed it out “But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look. Ask Mandy, ‘why are people scared of the things in the booths?’”

“No, hang on. What do I do?” Amy asked in a loud whisper “I don't know what I'm doing here and…I’m not even dressed!”

“It's this or Leadworth”, the Doctor stated “What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?” seeing that the look on Amy’s face that she’d decided to go find Mandy “Ha ha, gotcha. Meet me and Ali back here in half an hour”.

“So what are you two going to do?” Amy asked.

“What I always do. Stay out of trouble”, the Doctor replied.

“Which means _I’m_ the one who has to get you out of trouble”, Alyssa said with a mock sigh.

“Is this how it works?” Amy asked “You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?”

“Yes”, the Doctor said simply, taking Alyssa’s hand and walked away.

\-----------------

The Doctor climbed down the ladder into a maintenance corridor first, closely followed by Alyssa. The Time Lord felt along the walls before leaning in to listen “Can't be”, he said stepping back “Ali have a feel”.

Alyssa placed her hands on the wall and felt nothing. Not a single vibration “Nothing” she took her hands away “This ship is huge, we _should_ have felt the vibrations from the engines. But there’s nothing”.

The Doctor opened up a power box and exchanged a look with Alyssa when they saw the couplings inside weren’t connected “They’re fake. What is going on?” she asked picking one up. The Time Lord crossed over to the opposite wall and knocked on it, frowning when it sounded hollow.

“It’s hollow. There’s nothing behind it” his eyes widened when it hit him “there’s no engine”.

“But we saw it moving through space”, Alyssa stated “How can it move without an engine?”

“It’s the impossible truth” a female’s voice whispered behind them. The pair turned around to see a woman wearing a long red cloak and a white mask. The Time Lord moved in front of Alyssa in case this was a threat to his fiancé. He knew she could very easily look after herself but he still felt incredibly protective over her. More than likely due to the fact that she had died only several hours ago. Yes, she was alive and well, thanks to the TARDIS, but he wasn’t about to take any chances with her safety. He wasn’t going to lose her to anyone or anything. “We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly”.

“How?” the Doctor asked.

“I don't know. There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us, Doctor…Alyssa. You're our only hope” the woman tossed the Doctor a device which he caught easily “Your friend is safe. This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!” she turned on her heel and walked away.

“Who are you?” the Doctor called after her “How do I find you again?”

The woman turned back to them “I am Liz Ten, and I will find you two”, Liz Ten said.

There was a crashing sound which caught the attention of the Doctor and Alyssa. When they looked back at the woman, she’d gone. “Doctor how did she know who we were?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t know”, the Doctor replied “but if we run into her again, I’ll be sure to ask her”.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Time Lords ran through the ship following the device. It led them to a door marked ‘occupied’ where Mandy was pacing. The Doctor flashed his sonic at the door and it slid open. They stepped in to see a recording of Amy on the screens set up before a chair.

“Amy?” Alyssa asked noticing that Amy had been crying. Amy quickly turned the screens off.

“What have you done?” the Doctor asked her.

“I don’t know”, she admitted. Alyssa frowned at that, feeling the ginger’s confusion. How could she not know what she did? It seemed that the Doctor had a similar thought as he hopped onto the chair scanning the lamp above it with his sonic.

“Your basic memory wipe job” the Doctor told Amy “Must have erased about twenty minutes” he jumped down from the chair.

“But why would I choose to forget?” Amy frowned confused.

“Because everyone does. Everyone chooses the Forget button”, Mandy said from the doorway.

“Did you?” the Doctor asked, turning to the girl.

“She looks too young to be able to vote”, Alyssa said looking the girl over. She looked in her opinion 12 or 13.

“She’s right. I’m only 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then once every 5 years…” Mandy explained.

“And once every 5 years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned” the Doctor nodded, following along “Democracy in action”.

“How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?” Mandy asked eyeing the man.

“Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me”, the Doctor replied.

“Nor me", Alyssa added.

“But played for me”, Amy pointed out.

“The difference being the computer doesn't accept us as human”, the Doctor told her.

“Why not?” Amy asked “You look human”, she glanced at Alyssa “and you said that you _were_ human once".

“Yes I did”, Alyssa said “and actually you look Time Lord", she corrected.

“We came first”, the Doctor added.

“So there are other Time Lords aside from you two?” Amy asked excitedly.

“No” the Doctor replied. It was still hard for him to talk about the war “There were, but there aren't….its a long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened” Alyssa took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze “And you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Because this is what I do, every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government”.

With his free hand, the Doctor hit the ‘protest’ button. The door slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside as the smiling figure in the booth at the back of the room turned its head to reveal an angry face. The Doctor pulled both women into the corner as the floor started to slide open.

“Say, ‘Wheee’!” the Doctor yelled. Amy and Alyssa screamed as all three of them fell down the chute.

“Ew”, Alyssa complained as she, Amy and the Doctor landed what appeared to be organic waste.

“High speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel”, the Doctor said standing up, sliding a little on the slippery surface.

“Where are we?” Amy asked standing up, with Alyssa’s help.

“Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally” the Doctor said flashing his sonic around “puts us at the heart of the ship” he took a breath “I'd say Lancashire” What's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave” he said continuing to flash his sonic around “Looks like a cave”

“It's a rubbish dump, and its minging!” Amy exclaimed picking a bit of waste off her shoulder.

“I’m going to be showering for a week after this”, Alyssa remarked wrinkling her nose at the smell. First trip with the Doctor and they end up in the rubbish dump of a spaceship. Lovely. She winced as she felt a flash of pain.

“Its only food refuse”, the Doctor said sniffing.

“Yeah that makes me feel loads better. I’m only covered in food leftovers”, Alyssa grumbled.

“Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship”, the Doctor continued looking around at the number of tubes he could see.

“The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed”, Amy commented as she knelt down to feel the floor. Alyssa shook her head at her wondering how she could even put her hands in the gunk. Granted they were covered in it but still… gross.

Alyssa opened her mouth to say something when she suddenly gasped, the flash of pain coming back. Stronger this time.

“What's wrong?” the Doctor asked worriedly.

“Pain", Alyssa replied before she cringed again “something is in pain. It comes in…” she gasped once more “flashes".

The Doctor stepped forward and hugged her. He closed his eyes and concentrated on directing all good emotions to his fiancé, namely how much he loved her. Alyssa closed her eyes, ignoring the smell from the Doctor's clothes, allowing his emotions to wash over her. The flashes of pain she felt subsided as the Doctor's feelings for her were far stronger, acting as a kind of emotional barrier.

“Thank you”, the Time Lady murmured.

“You're welcome, love”

“Uh what's going on?” Amy asked confused.

“I'm an empath Amy", Alyssa replied “I can feel what others feel".

“And my emotions were blocking out the pain she was feeling”, the Doctor added.

“Ok", Amy said slowly, not quite understanding “but who are you getting the pain from?” She asked “I'm fine as is the Doctor".

“That's a very good…” the Doctor trailed off when he heard a distant moaning behind them “...question”.

He and Alyssa exchanged looks, both realising where they were AND more importantly where Alyssa was sensing the pain.

“Er…Amy that’s not a floor, it's a….” the Doctor trailed off not really sure how to tell her without the ginger freaking out.

“It's a what?” Amy asked.

“The next word is kind of a scary word” the Doctor said carefully “You might want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place. Go ‘omm’”

“Omm” Amy hummed.

“It's a tongue”, the Doctor said quickly.

“A tongue?” Amy repeated, her eyes widening.

“A tongue. A great big tongue” the Time Lord excitedly earning him a whack on the arm from Alyssa.

 “How can you be so delighted? We’re in a frigging mouth!” Alyssa said crossly, her anger being enough to keep the flashes of pain at bay.

“But on the plus side, roomy”, the Doctor countered.

“Oh that’s alright then. We’re just stuck in the mouth of a beastie but not to worry because it’s roomy” Alyssa said crossly flinging a bit of rubbish that was stuck to her shoulder at the Doctor “you're going the right way if you want to sleep in the library for the next two weeks". The Doctor flinched at her tone, knowing she meant it.

“Doctor, how do we get out?” Amy asked quickly.

“Okay, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes” the Doctor said flashing his sonic around “so the normal entrance is…” he turned to see the row of sharp teeth, closed “closed for business”.

“We could try, though”, Amy suggested stepping forward.

“No! Stop, don't move!” the Doctor shouted as the mouth heaved in agitation “Too late. It's started”.

“What has?” Alyssa asked.

“Swallow reflex”, the Doctor replied as the tongue moved underneath them, causing the trio to slip and fall backwards into the refuse. The Doctor scrambled to his feet sonicing the walls frantically.

“What are you doing?” Amy shouted as she struggled to get to her feet, Alyssa having the same trouble. 

“I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors”, the Doctor explained.

Alyssa’s eyes widened at that word “You’re completely mad!” she shouted at him.

“Well I _am_ a mad man with a box, love. One _you_ agreed to marry”, the Doctor reminded her.

“Yeah, I know", Alyssa grumbled.

“Alyssa what’s he doing?” Amy asked just about getting to her feet. It seemed Alyssa knew exactly what the Doctor was up to. Alyssa opened her mouth to answer her when a wave of bile rolled towards them.

“Right, then” the Doctor said straightening his bow tie and then taking Alyssa’s hand “This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!”

Amy and Alyssa screamed again as the wave of bile crashed over them.


	4. The Beast Below part 2

The Doctor was the first to come to in the overspill pipe. He immediately checked Alyssa over first and let out a sigh of relief when the result on his sonic told him that she was perfectly fine. No broken bones and no sign of concussion. “Sorry love”, he said softly touching her cheek. As he did this, the Time Lady began to stir.

“Lets never do that again, ok?” she mumbled “not fun”.

“Agreed”, the Doctor said. While he checked over Amy, Alyssa slowly got to her feet. She wandered over to the door and started to look for a way to open it.

“Is she ok?” Alyssa asked as the Doctor joined her at the door.

“She’ll live”, he answered “now lets see what we’ve got”. It didn’t take him long to notice the ‘forget’ button by the door. “Well, that’s just great isn’t it?” he grumbled “can’t open the door without pressing that button”.

“And if we press the button, we’ll forget everything we saw”, Alyssa added.

“Exactly”, the Doctor said. He got out his sonic and used it on the door in hopes that it could somehow open it. While he was doing this, Amy began to stir behind the Time Lords. The Doctor and Alyssa glanced back at her “There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick”, the Doctor said before the ginger could ask him those questions.

“Where are we?” Amy asked sitting up.

“Overspill pipe, at a guess”, the Doctor replied.

“Oh, God, it stinks”, the ginger said as she caught a whiff of a horrible smell as she stood up.

“Amy that’s not the pipe, that’s us”, Alyssa told her, going over to the ginger and helping her stand.

“Oh” Amy smelled herself “Phew. Can we get out?”

“One door, one door switch, one condition” the Doctor moved to show the button on the door. It was a ‘forget’ button “We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot” the lights come on to reveal two smiling figures “Ooo, here's the stick” he walked toward the booths “There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?” the faces turn to show a mad expression “No, that's not going to work on us, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?” the faces turn to so very angry expression “Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting, and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues, huh?”

“You just had to say something didn’t you?” Alyssa asked as she, Amy and the Doctor backed away as the smiling figures stood up and walked out of the booths. The Time Lord pulled both women behind him as the figures advanced.

Suddenly the door opened behind them and Liz Ten stepped in, shooting both smiling figures. “Look who it is” the Doctor grinned as the woman holstered her guns “You look a lot better without your mask”.

“You must be Amy” Liz Ten said finally seeing the ginger haired woman “Liz. Liz Ten”.

“Hi” Amy shook her head.

“Eugh” Liz Ten wiped her hand on her cloak “Yuck. Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick” she headed to the door where Mandy was waiting “You know Mandy, yeah?” she put her arm around the girl “She's very brave”.

“How did you find us?” Alyssa asked.

“Stuck my gizmo on the Doctor” Liz Ten nodded to the Time Lord “Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape”, she remarked “So, what's the big fella doing here?” Liz Ten asked.

“You're over sixteen, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it”, the Doctor said.

“No. Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject”, Liz Ten corrected him.

At that the Doctor shifted in front of Alyssa again “Then who and what are you, and how do you know me and Ali?” he asked tensing.

“It’s alright, I’m not a threat” Liz assured him taking notice of how he protected the red haired woman from her for the second time “You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot…” the Doctor points like he’s about to argue but then ran a hand through his soaked hair instead “I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was”.

“Your family?” the Doctor asked.

Liz Ten noticed one of the smiling figures start to twitch “They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move”. The Doctor took Alyssa’s hand as they left the overspill. As they walked along one of the lower corridors of the ship Liz Ten explained the connection the Time Lord had with different members of her family “The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry Twelve. Tea and scones with Liz Two. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day…”

Alyssa giggled at upon hearing that, the Doctor had told her all about his meeting with Queen Victoria. She hadn’t been at all surprised that he’d been both knighted and exiled the same day. It was a very Doctor thing to do.

“What about me?” the Time Lady spoke up “you seemed to know who I was too”.

“Ah. There is one particular story that’ll never forget”, Liz Ten said “it involved the virgin queen”.

“What happened?” Alyssa asked, curious.

“Let’s just say if you hadn’t been there, things would’ve gone a whole lot different”, Liz Ten said. That made Alyssa even more curious. They’d met the ‘virgin queen’ aka Queen Elizabeth the 1st during the Carrionite trip...The queen seemed pretty mad at the Doctor. Whatever he'd done was enough to be mentioned to this monarch...as was she apparently. Maybe it was like River and it was something that was going to happen in the future.

“Liz Ten?” the Doctor said starting to realise _who_ she was. It was really the mention of Queen Victoria that had tipped him of as to Liz Ten’s identity.

“Liz Ten, yeah. Elizabeth the Tenth. And down!” Liz spun around with both guns in her hands, the trio ducking down just before she fired at the two smiling figures that had pursued them “I'm the bloody Queen, mate” Liz Ten holstered her guns “Basically, I rule”.

“Yeah you do”, Alyssa grinned standing up “you’re awesome!”

Liz Ten smiled at her compliment “thanks Ali”. She led them along another corridor towards a lift “There's a high-speed Vator through there…” the Doctor looked into the caged area where there were two tentacles smacking against the bars “Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?”

“I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root”, Amy told them.

“Exactly like a root. It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship”, the Doctor said. He took Alyssa’s hand giving it a gentle squeeze when he noticed her flinch. She was feeling the creature’s pain again. It was times like this he wished that he could take her empath ability away, not just temporarily block out the bad emotions she may pick up.

“What, like an infestation?” Liz Ten asked.

“Someone's helping it. Feeding it”, the Doctor explained.

“Feeding my subjects to it”, Liz Ten said angrily “Come on. Got to keep moving” she stormed off, Mandy following her.

“Doctor?” Amy asked concerned.

“Oh, Amy” the Doctor breathed “We should never have come here”.

“No, we shouldn't”, Alyssa agreed quickly wiping away a tear that had rolled down her face.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz Ten took them back to where she lived and showed them the bathrooms where the trio could get themselves cleaned up. Alyssa took a lot longer than normal, making sure that she’d gotten all the horrible gunk out of her hair and that she didn't smell like a rubbish dump. Once she was sure that she was clean, the Time Lady stepped out of the shower, dried herself off and got back into her now clean clothes.

She left the bathroom and headed for Liz Ten’s bedroom. When she got there, the Doctor and Amy where already inside also clean. “A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?” the Doctor asked holding Liz Ten’s mask as Alyssa carefully navigated her way through the maze of glasses of water on the floor.

“Secrets are being kept from me”, Liz Ten replied from where she sat on the bed “I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon”

“How old were you when you came to the throne?” the Doctor questioned starting to pace on the spot.

“Forty. Why?” Liz Ten asked.

Both Alyssa and Amy where surprised at that “What, you're fifty now? No way”, Amy said. She wouldn’t have known that was how old the queen was judging by her appearance.

“You look really good for that age, if you don’t mind me saying”, Alyssa remarked.

“I don’t mind at all Ali. They slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps”, Liz Ten explained.

“And you always wear this in public?” the Doctor asked sitting on the bed, still holding onto the mask.

“Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting”, Liz Ten said.

“Air-balanced porcelain” the Doctor muttered looking down at the mask in his hands. It looked more than 50 years old to him. In fact it looked a lot older.

He looked up at Liz Ten “Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face”, the Doctor said.

“Yeah? So what?” Liz Ten asked wondering what his point is.

“Oh, Liz. So everything”

The door opens and four hooded men enter the room “What are you doing? How dare you come in here?” Liz Ten said outraged that they’d come into her home.

“Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK” one of the hooded men said “You will come with us now”.

“Why would I do that?” Liz Ten eyed him. In response the hooded man’s head slowly turned around to show an angry expression, identical to the smiling figures from the booths. “How can they be Smilers?” she asked staring at him. _So that’s what they’re called_ Alyssa thought. She had wondered if they had a particular name but never thought to ask.

“Half Smiler, half human” the Doctor said eyeing the hooded men warily.

“Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?” Liz Ten demanded.

“The highest authority, Ma'am” the half human/half smiler replied.

“I AM the highest authority”, Liz Ten reminded him.

“Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am”

“Where?” Liz Ten demanded.

“The Tower, Ma'am”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group was escorted to a large medieval style room containing high-tech machines. There was grating on the floor which they could as see yet more tentacles. “Doctor, where are we?” Amy asked looking around.

“The lowest point of Starship UK” the Doctor replied “The dungeon”. He would've gestured around the room if it wasn't for the fact that he was currently supporting Alyssa, the Time Lady herself not looking at all well. The flashes of pain had reached the point of agonising. The Doctor was surprised that she was still conscious.

“Ma'am” a grey haired man said politely, bowing to Liz Ten.

“Hawthorne!” she exclaimed “So _this_ is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do”

“There's children down here” Alyssa managed to say though not without considerable effort “What's all that about?”

“Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast” Hawthorne explained “For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky”.

“Yeah, look at us” the Doctor said, not at all happy “Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky…”

“D-doctor I don't…”, Alyssa trailed off and passed out, slumping against the Doctor. The Time Lord gathered her up in his arms, carried her over to a wall and carefully set her down.

“Is she alright?” Liz Ten asked looking at the Time Lady worriedly.

“No she isn’t alright”, the Doctor snapped “she’s far from all right. The creature’s pain is her pain”.

“I don’t understand”, Liz Ten said. The Doctor marched over to an open ‘well’ and pointed to the pink thing inside.

“This is the exposed pain centre of the creature’s brain” an electrical beam shoots into it “every time this poor thing gets shot with an electrical beam, Ali can feel it near enough every single time. And it’s far worse here due to the proximity” when Liz Ten still looked confused, the Doctor continued “Alyssa is an empath. She can feel every one’s emotions. She can feel their pain. In this case of this creature, the pain was too unbearable so she passed out. What you’ve done has hurt my _fiancé_ and no one gets away with that. Not even you, Liz” the Time Lord glared at the monarch “if you think feeling its pain was bad enough, try hearing its cries” he walked over to a grate and lifted it up, allowing one of the tentacles to break free “This is the sound none of you wanted to hear!” the Doctor used his sonic to allow the others to hear the creature’s pained cries.

“Stop it” Liz called, turning to Hawthorne “Who did this?” she demanded as the Doctor turned off his sonic.

“We act on instructions from the highest authority”, Hawthorne replied.

“ _I_ am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!” no one moved “Is anyone listening to me?”

“Liz. Your mask”, the Doctor said carefully taking the mask from his pocket.

“What about my mask?” Liz Ten  demanded.

The Doctor tossed the mask to Liz Ten “Look at it. It's old. At least two hundred years old, I'd say”, he told her.

“Yeah? It's an antique. So?” the woman shook her head not following along.

“Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over two hundred years ago and _perfectly_ sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign”. 

“Nah, it's ten years” Liz Ten insisted “I've been on this throne ten years”.

“10 years. And the same ten years, over and over again” the Doctor took her by the hand and led her away “always leading you” he showed her the voting area “here…” the two buttons in front of the screen were labelled ‘Forget’ and ‘Abdicate’.

Liz Ten turned to Hawthorne, horrified “What have you done?”

“Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us” Hawthorne sighed turning on the screen, playing a recording of the queen.

“If you are watching this…” the recording began “If _I_ am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London” Liz Ten sat down to watch “The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the ‘Forget’ button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision”

The recording ended.

“I voted for this” Amy breathed in disbelief, she looked at the Doctor “Why would I do that?”

“Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice” the Doctor swallowed “Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong” the Doctor turned to look at her, his face hard “You don't ever decide what I need to know”. 

“I don't even remember doing it”, Amy pointed out.

“You did it. That's what counts”, the Doctor said coldly.

“I'm…I'm sorry”, Amy said quietly.

“Oh, I don't care” the Doctor nearly sneered “When I'm done here, you're going home”, and with that he walked away.

“Why? Because I made a mistake?” Amy called after him “ _One_ mistake? I don't even remember doing it” Amy strode over to him “Doctor!”

“Yeah, I know” the Doctor said as he examined the instrument panels, not even bothering to look up at her “You're only human”.

“What are you doing?” Liz Ten asked quietly watching the Doctor work.

“The worst thing I'll ever do” the Doctor replied “I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it”.

“That'll be like killing it”, Amy gasped.

“Look, 3 options. One: l let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds of more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, ‘cos I won’t the be Doctor anymore”. 

“There must be something we can do, some other way” Liz began.

“Nobody talk to me” the Doctor threatened before shouting at them “Nobody human has anything to say to me today!”

Amy walked over to a wall and sat down, feeling rather hurt by what the Doctor said. Her eyes flickered over to Alyssa. What would the Time Lady say? Would she have shouted at her too? Or would she give her a disappointed look and focus on finding a way to save the Star Whale.

The ginger sighed. There had to be something she could to make this right. There _had_ to be a way to keep the people alive and save the Star Whale. She was broken out of her thoughts when Mandy, who’d been sitting next to her, suddenly got up and ran over to one of the three children that had entered the room.

“Timmy! You made it, you're ok!” Timmy didn’t say anything to her “It's me, Mandy”.

Behind them a tentacle reached for the girl, Amy started to move forward but stopped when she saw that it wasn’t attacking Mandy. It just tapped her on the shoulder. Amy watched Mandy turn to it and start to stroke it.

Her eyes widened when she finally understood. “There is another way”, she breathed. Amy got up, ran over to Liz Ten, grabbing her hand “Your Majesty. Going to need a hand”.

“Amy, no!” the Doctor rushed over as Amy pushed Liz Ten’s hand on the ‘Abdicate’ button.

The Star Whale roared and the whole ship shook “Amy, what have you done?” the Doctor asked.

“Nothing at all” Amy smiled “Am I right?”

“We've INCREASED speed!” Hawthorne gasped in shock.

“Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot”, Amy told him “Got to help”.

“It's still here” Liz Ten frowned “I don't understand”.

“The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago” Amy told the woman “It _volunteered_. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead. No future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind…” she turned to look at the Doctor “and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry”.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor and Alyssa stood on the observation deck looking out at the stars, the Time Lord standing behind his fiancé, arms wrapped around her middle. “I can never get used to this view”, Alyssa sighed “its beautiful”.

“Nothing compared to you, love”, the Doctor said giving her a light squeeze. Alyssa smiled, leaning back against him.

A moment later Amy joined them, holding onto Liz Ten’s mask. “From Her Majesty” she held out the mask “She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK”.

“Amy you could’ve killed everyone”, Alyssa said to her seriously. The Doctor had told her everything when she’d finally regained consciousness. She thought what Amy did was incredibly risky.

“The Doctor could have killed a Star Whale”, Amy countered.

“And you saved it” the Doctor smiled, facing the ginger “I know, I know”.

“Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and…misery and loneliness…” Amy looked sideways at the Doctor “and it just made it kind”. 

“But Amy, you couldn't have known how it would react”, the Doctor pointed out.

“YOU couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?” Amy gave the Doctor a hug “Hey”, she said softly.

“What?” the Doctor asked.

“Gotcha”, Amy said.

“Ha!” the Doctor laughed “Gotcha”. He glanced at Alyssa and opened his arm. The Time Lady smiled and moved closer allowing the Doctor to hug both her and Amy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Shouldn't we say goodbye? Won't they wonder where we went?” Amy asked the Doctor as they walked back to the TARDIS, the Time Lord holding Alyssa’s hand.

“For the rest of their lives”, the Doctor said “Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow”. 

“Sorry, what?” Amy froze on the spot.

“Well, it's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones”, the Doctor said and Amy relaxed. He let go of Alyssa’s hand in order to unlock the TARDIS.

“You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning…” Amy began as they walked up to the console, Alyssa closing the door to the box “Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just…just because you could?”

“Once, a long time ago”, the Doctor replied.

“What happened?” Alyssa asked coming to join them at the console.

“Hello!” the Doctor said cheerfully.

“Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you….” Amy broke off when a phone started to ring “Is that a phone ringing?” she asked surprised.

“This is a phone box Amy”, Alyssa reminded her moving around the console to where the phone was “Hello, TARDIS phone. Who’s speaking?” the Time Lady said answering the phone as the Doctor prepared to set the TARDIS into the vortex “Sorry, who?” she frowned “No, seriously, who?” Alyssa put the phone against her shoulder “Says he's the Prime Minister”.

“First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?” Amy remarked.

“Which Prime Minister?” the Doctor asked.

Alyssa put the phone back to her ear “Which Prime Minister?” she listened for a moment before asking “Which British one?” her eyes widened when she heard when she heard which Prime Minister was on the other end. She took the phone away from her ear and held it out to the Doctor “Winston Churchill for you, dear”.

“Oh!” the Doctor took the phone “Hello” he said cheerfully “What's up?”

“Tricky situation, Doctor. Potentially very dangerous” Churchill replied “I think I'm going to need you”.

“Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister” the Doctor assured him, grinning at the excited looks on Amy and Alyssa’s faces “We're on our way”.


	5. Victory of the Daleks part 1

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS alone to face the soldiers waiting for him. He’d told both Amy and Alyssa to wait inside until he called for them, to let them know it was safe. He had decided to do that the moment he saw the soldiers on the scanner. He wasn’t about to risk the safety of his fiancé or his companion …well mostly his fiancé as her safety was his top priority. Not that Amy’s safety was important to him also, it was…but Alyssa’s safety came first. Always.

After a moment the soldiers parted to allow Winston Churchill to pass. The Doctor smiled at the man before calling for the women “Amy! Ali!”

Amy stepped out first, followed by Alyssa both looking at Churchill in amazement. “Doctor. Is it you?” the man asked looking him up and down.

“Oh, Winston, my old friend” the Time Lord laughed, going to shake Churchill’s hand but the man motioned with his own as if he wanted something. “Ah, every time!”

“What's he after?” Alyssa asked.

“TARDIS key, of course”, the Doctor replied. Every time he’d met the man, he’d been trying to get the key off of him.

“Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor!” Churchill cried “The lives that could be saved”.

“Ah, doesn't work like that” the Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind Amy.

“Must I take it by force?” Churchill threatened playfully.

“I'd like to see you try”, the Doctor said “for starters you’d have to get through Ali here” he put an arm around the Time Lady.

“I’m not sure the young lady is much of a threat”, Churchill said, his tone still playful.

“You should never underestimate me, good sir”, Alyssa said with a smile “it would be a big mistake, trust me”. 

“At ease”, Churchill called and the soldiers lowered their guns. “So who are your two lovely companions?” he asked.

“Winston Churchill, Amy Pond” the Doctor introduced, nodding at Amy. The woman could only wave at him, still rather amazed to be meeting THE Winston Churchill “and this Alyssa Palmer aka wife to be”, the Time Lord proudly.

“It’s nice to meet you Winston”, Alyssa said politely “and I’m being serious about not underestimating me. I could knock all of your men flat on their backs within seconds”.

“I’ll take it under advisement”, Churchill said.

“You rang?” the Doctor asked, moving his arm from around Alyssa, taking her hand.  Churchill motioned them to follow as he turn and walked out the storage closet. He led them through a corridor, all them hearing the sounds of the air raid happening above. Somehow the Doctor had managed to obtain Churchill’s walking stick while they walked, tucking it under one arm.

“You've changed your face again”, Churchill remarked, eyeing the Doctor.

“Yeah, well, had a bit of work done” he shrugged.

“Got it, got it, got it!” Amy cheered “Cabinet War Rooms, right?”

“Yep”, the Doctor confirmed “Top secret heart of the War Office, right under London”.

“You're late, by the way”, Churchill informed the Doctor.

“Requisitions, sir” a young woman said coming up, handing over a clipboard.

“Excellent”, Churchill checked them over.

“Late?” the Doctor asked lifting the hand that was holding Alyssa’s so he could check his watch.

“I rang you a month ago”, Churchill said signing the papers he’d finished checking.

“Sorry about that”, Alyssa said apologetically “we would’ve been here not long after you called if someone hadn’t been so insistent in piloting the TARDIS”. She gave the Doctor a mock glare, the Time Lord having the decency to look rather apologetic himself.

Churchill hands the clipboard back to the young woman “Something the matter, Breen?” he asked noticing she looked not that happy “You look a little down in the dumps”.

“No, sir” Breen hugged the clipboard “Fine, sir”

“Action this day, Breen! Action this day!” Churchill said.

“Yes, sir” Breen nodded, forcing a smile as she glanced at Amy and Alyssa before leaving.

“Excuse me, sir. Got another formation coming in, Prime Minister” an officer called over “Stukas, by the look of them”.

“We shall go up top then, Group Captain!” Churchill ordered “We'll give ‘em what for! Coming, Doctor?”

“Why?” the Doctor questioned.

Churchill snatched back his cane “I have something to show you”, he said before walking off. The Doctor turned to Alyssa, mouthing ‘ooh’ getting a laugh from her and Amy. They followed Churchill into a lift. The man starting it up as soon as they were all in.

Alyssa wrinkled her nose as she waved the smoke away from Churchill’s cigar. The Doctor wasn’t particularly happy about that either. Amy was luckier as she was behind them, therefore not getting any smoke in her direction. “We stand at a crossroads, Doctor” Churchill began “quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So, I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace”.

“Such as?” the Doctor asked. The lift stopped and Churchill opened the gate.

“Follow me”, he instructed, exiting the lift. They all walked out onto a roof with sandbags lining the edge, a man with a white lab coat was watching the sky.

The two women looked at the scene before them, at the number of balloons and blimps tethered and waiting. “Wow”, Amy breathed.

“You said it”, Alyssa wholeheartedly agreed. To learn about WW2 in a classroom was one thing but to be actually there was something else entirely.

“Doctor, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell. Head of our Ironsides Project”, Churchill said introducing the man in the lab coat. The Doctor held up his hand in a ‘V for victory’ sign earning a shake of the head from Alyssa.

“How do you do?” Bracewell waved at them before resuming his watch on the London skyline. The Doctor, Alyssa and Amy walked over to the edge as a formation of German planes approached, dropping bombs as they went.

“Ready, Bracewell?” Churchill called to the man.

“Aye aye, sir” Bracewell came him a thumbs up “On my order, fire!”

From within a sandbagged area, a laser shot out and fired at the German planes, destroying them instantly. Alyssa instantly paled, recognising that laser. “No”, she breathed “not here”. Her mind immediately conjured up the moment that the Doctor was shot by a Dalek, right in front of her.

“What was that?” Amy gasped.

“That wasn't human. That was never human technology” the Doctor muttered “That sounded like…Show me! Show me what that was!” he demanded running over to the ladder and climbing up it.

“Advance”, Bracewell ordered.

“Our new secret weapon”, Churchill said proudly as a Dalek trundled out from behind the sandbags, painted in army green, a utility belt around it with a small union flag under its eyestalk.

Alyssa stared up at it horrified. She thought she’d seen the last of them when the meta-crisis Doctor had destroyed all those Dalek ships. She thought there were no Dalek’s left. How wrong she was.

Amy glanced at the Time Lady, concerned when she heard her muttering ‘no’ repeatedly under her breath as she backed away, her eyes fixed on the thing in front of the Doctor, her face as white as a sheet. “Ali?” she said walking towards her, very worried.

“They killed so many…they killed him…in front of me…” Alyssa gasped, her breathing becoming more erratic. Amy ran forward, grabbing hold of Alyssa by her upper arms as the red head’s legs gave way.

“Doctor!” Amy shouted, sinking to the floor with a shaking Alyssa. At the ginger’s shout, the Doctor tore his gaze away from the Dalek, his eyes widening at the sight of the ginger on the floor, holding onto a very pale Time Lady. He quickly clambered down the ladder nearly slipping on the rungs in his haste. The second he reached the bottom rung, he jumped off, raced across the rooftop to his fiancé and companion.

“What happened?” the Doctor demanded as he dropped to his knees beside Amy, taking the still shaking Alyssa from her.

“I don’t know, she just freaked out when she saw that… thing. Before I knew it, she collapsed”, Amy said worriedly.

“Its all my fault”, Alyssa gasped “I should’ve sensed it…but I didn’t. You got shot because of me!” Alyssa’s grip tightened on his arm as she burst into tears “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry”, she sobbed.

“Its ok”, the Doctor said gently “its not your fault”. But Alyssa wasn’t hearing any of it due to her hysterical state. The Doctor shifted his hold on the Time Lady and stood up. He had to get her back to the TARDIS where she’d be safe and not have to face the Daleks. He was most definitely not going to subject her to that.


	6. Victory of the Daleks part 2

“How is Miss Palmer?” Churchill asked when the Doctor entered his office. He’d been concerned about the young woman and her rather extreme reaction to Bracewell’s Ironsides.

“As well as she can be after seeing a Dalek”, the Doctor replied going over to the desk where diagrams, blueprints, papers and photographs laid out trying to ignore how his hearts were aching over his fiancé’s reaction to the Daleks. He’d so hoped that he had seen the last of them…that they were finally free of the nightmare that was the Daleks. But once again they manage to survive. Well, he was going to make absolutely sure that they didn’t escape this time around.

The only thing he could at least be grateful for…if he could be grateful to anything in this situation…is that Amy offered to stay with Alyssa to keep her company. He was glad the ginger had done this as he didn’t want the Time Lady to be alone, not in the state she was in.

 “Why are you calling it a Dalek?” Churchill asked.

“Because that what it’s called”, the Doctor answered looking up at him after examining the papers on the desk.

Churchill shook his head “They are Bracewell's _Ironsides_ , Doctor” he insisted “Look. Blueprints, statistics, field tests, photographs” he added pointing to each one in turn “He _invented_ them”.

“Invented them?” the Time Lord scoffed “Oh, no, no, no”. He _knew_ Bracewell didn’t invent them. He _couldn’t_ have, it was impossible. So how did he get the idea to ‘invent’ them?

“Yes. He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fellow's a genius”

“He didn't invent them!” the Doctor shouted hitting his hand on the desk “They're alien”.

“Alien”, Churchill repeated unsure as to believe the Doctor. He could he when he had overwhelming evidence which supported the fact that one of his scientists invented them. A Dalek glided past the door causing the Doctor to tense up, glancing over his shoulder to glare at it.

“And totally hostile”, he hissed as he turned back to Churchill once the Dalek had gone.

“Precisely” Churchill nodded “They will win me the war”. He turned over a blueprint to reveal a propaganda poster of a large Dalek before heading out of the room. The Time Lord followed him.

“Why won't you listen to me?” the Doctor cried, frustrated with the fact that he _wasn’t_ listening “Why did you call me in if you won't listen to me?!”

“When I rang you a month ago, I must admit I had my doubts” Churchill confessed as they walked “The Ironsides seemed too good to be true”.

“Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!” the Doctor shouted, anger rising within him as Alyssa’s frightened face appeared in his mind.

 “But imagine what I could do with a hundred!” Churchill countered “A thousand!”

“I am imagining”, the Doctor said darkly eyeing a Dalek as it trundled past with a file box balanced on its sucker.

Churchill turned off into the Map Room, the Doctor following him in. Inside of the room was a flurry of activity, groups of people manning the radio, others pushing small figures over a large map. The Time Lord stopped eyeing another Dalek at the other end of the room. That was the third one he’d seen so far. He really hoped those were the only three around. The Doctor looked away from it and strode over to Churchill, snatching the cigar from his mouth. “Winston, Winston, please”, he pleaded. He had to get the man to listen to him. So many lives were at stake.

“We are waging total war, Doctor!” Churchill retorted “Day after day the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist”

“Wait till the Daleks get started”, the Doctor said grimly thinking about the times the Daleks invaded Earth.

“Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames”

“Yeah? Try the Earth in flames”, the Doctor countered his mind flashing back to the Time War. He couldn’t let that happen to Earth. He _couldn’t._

“I weep for my country. I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart”, Churchill informed him, the pain clear in his voice. He moved around the table, the Doctor going after him not about to give up in trying to get Churchill to understand.

“You're resisting, Winston! The whole world _knows_ you're resisting! You're a beacon of hope”

“But for how long?” Churchill signed some more papers “Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now”.

“Can I be of assistance?” a Dalek asked trundling up to them.

“Shut it!” the Doctor snapped. He turned to Churchill “Listen to me. Just listen!” he urged “The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!”

“If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil!” Churchill cried “These machines are our salvation” a siren sounded before the Doctor could say anything “Oh, the All Clear. We are safe, for now” and with that the man left, a Dalek following him.

“I wish”, the Doctor muttered. He _knew_ the Daleks were up to something and he was going to prove it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor strode into Bracewell’s lab. If he couldn’t get Churchill to listen to him then he’d just have to try Bracewell, the supposed ‘inventor’. Also he wanted to know how the man ‘came up’ with idea of the Ironsides. “All right, Prof!” he called as he checked out the equipment “Now, the PM's been filling me in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours” he picked up a file and started looking through it “Amazing. You must be very proud of them”

“Just doing my bit” Bracewell smiled.

“How did you do it?” the Doctor asked looking up from the file “Come up with the idea?”

“How does the muse of invention come to anyone?” Bracewell countered.

The Doctor tossed the file onto a desk “But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?”

“Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like…let me show you” Bracewell moved over to a desk, the Doctor following him “Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight” Bracewell held up a notebook which the Doctor grabbed, taking a quick look at it “Gravity bubbles that can sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere” the Doctor snatched that notebook from Bracewell and skimmed the first page “Came to me in the bath”

“And are these your ideas or theirs?” the Doctor asked dropping the notebook onto the desk.

“Oh no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Doctor” Bracewell assured him “They are….” a Dalek brings the scientist a cup of tea “Thank you…the perfect servant, and the perfect warrior”

“I don't know what you're up to, Professor” the Doctor said giving him a glare “but whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them! Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!”

“Yes, Doctor” Churchill called as he walked in, followed by a Dalek “Death to our enemies. Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!”

“Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too!” Why weren’t they listening to him? Seriously? He trying to tell them, to warn them about the Daleks but it was falling on deaf ears.

“Would you care for some tea?” the Dalek asked the Doctor. In response the Time Lord knocked the tray of its sucker.

“Stop this!” he shouted, glaring at it “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“We seek only to help you”, the Dalek replied.

“To do what?” the Doctor snapped.

“To win the war”

“Really? _Which_ war?” the Doctor questioned.

“I do not understand”, the Dalek said sounding as confused as a Dalek could.

“This war, against the Nazis” the Doctor explained “or your war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life forms that are not Dalek?”

“I do not understand. I am your soldier”, the Dalek repeated.

“Oh, yeah?” the Doctor snatched up a large spanner. If he couldn’t get Bracewell and Churchill to listen to him, then he would prove his point that the Daleks were bad by forcing it to show its true nature “Okay. Okay, soldier, defend yourself”

“Doctor, what the devil?!” Bracewell exclaimed as the Doctor started hitting the Dalek.

“You do not require tea?” the Dalek asked.

“Stop him! Prime Minister, please”, Bracewell pleaded.

“Doctor, please, these machines are precious” Churchill tried but the Time Lord ignored him.

“Come on!” the Doctor egged the Dalek on “Fight back! You want to, don't you? You know you do”

“I must protest”, Bracewell tried again.

“What are you waiting for?” the Doctor glared “Look, you hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on. Kill me. Kill me!” he struck the Dalek again.

“Please desist from striking me” the Dalek requested “I am your soldier”

“You are my enemy!” the Doctor hit it again with every word, his hearts racing, anger burning inside him for his hatred of the Daleks “And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the Void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!”

With one hard kick, the Doctor sent the Dalek rolling backwards. “Correct” the Dalek swivelled back to him “Review testimony”

The Time Lord frowned when he heard his voice being played back “’I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!’”

“Testimony. What are you talking about, testimony?” the Doctor asked.

“Transmitting testimony now”, a second Dalek stated.

“Transmit what, where?” the Doctor asked confused as to why they needed his testimony. A moment later the second Dalek announced

“Testimony accepted!”

“Get back! All of you!” the Doctor ordered backing away from the Dalek.

“Marines!” Churchill called “Marines, get in here!”

Two Marines entered the room but were promptly shot by one of the Daleks.

“Stop it! Stop it, please!” Bracewell shouted, not understanding why his creation was turning on them “What are you doing? You are my Ironsides”

“We are the Daleks”, one of the Daleks said correcting him.

“But I created you!”

“No” one of the Daleks shot Bracewell’s hand, revealing a stump of wires and metal “We created you!”

“Victory!” both Daleks shouted together “Victory! Victory!”

And then they disappeared, teleporting out. The Doctor stared at where they once were, horrified. He wanted to know what their plan was. Turned out _he_ was their plan.

The Doctor ran out of the room, heading straight for the TARDIS. As if the box could sense his urgency, the door unlocked, swinging open. Inside both women were sitting on the steps, waiting for him. “Good you’re both here. I need you to leave”, he said going past them to the console. Both women stood up at that.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Didn’t you stop the Daleks?” Alyssa asked.

“No, not yet. Long story short I wanted to know what their plan was and it turned out it was me all along. Now I’ve got to go after them, so I need you two to leave”, the Doctor said quickly.

“I’m not going anywhere Doctor”, Alyssa said going up the steps “if you’re going to face the Daleks, I’m coming with you”.

“Ali, you can’t its not safe”, the Doctor said.

“And leaving us in the middle of the London Blitz is?” Alyssa retorted “I’m coming with you whether you like it or not”. The Doctor sighed, seeing that she wasn’t going to be easily deterred.

“Fine” he glanced at Amy “but you’re staying behind”. The ginger opened her mouth to protest when Alyssa spoke.

“He’s right Amy, you should stay here. We will be back for you, that’s a promise”

“Ali, no offense but you promised you’d be back before”, Amy said “and you let me down”.

The Time Lady stepped toward the ginger “you still have my bracelet?” she asked. Amy nodded and produced it from her pocket. She held it out to Alyssa who shook her head “No, I want you to hold on to it for me. I promise this time we _will_ come back”, Alyssa said. Amy put the bracelet back into her pocket and the two Time Lords watched as she left the TARDIS.


	7. Victory of the Daleks part 3

**An: as it’s a bit of a pain to keep putting first army green Dalek and second army green Dalek I’ve abbreviated them:**

**First army green Dalek – 1 st AG Dalek. **

**Second army green Dalek – 2 nd AG Dalek. **

“How about that cuppa now, then?” the Doctor asked rubbing his hands together as he stepped out of the TARDIS. Alyssa followed closely behind him.

“It is the Doctor”, the gold Dalek announced.

“Exterminate!” 1st AG Dalek shouted.

“Wait, wait, wait. I wouldn't if I were you!” the Doctor warned pulling out a jammy dodger from his pocket, held it out in front of him making sure that Alyssa was firmly behind him. Though she could easily defend herself, he didn’t want these Daleks to know about her abilities. “TARDIS self-destruct, and you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it”. 

“You would not use such a device”, 2nd AG Dalek said, not believing him.

“Try me”, the Doctor challenged. 1st AG Dalek rolled forward, the Doctor turning towards it, holding out the jammy dodger “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans. No nothing” he said looking between each one “One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang bang, Daleks boom!” the Dalek moved back “Good boy”. The Doctor looked at the instrument panels “This ship's pretty beaten up” he remarked eyeing the rusted panel “Running on empty, I'd say, like you” he walked around it, making sure that Alyssa was with him. “When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished”

“One ship survived”, 2nd AG Dalek informed him.

“And you fell back through time, yes?” the Doctor nodded “Crippled, dying?”

“We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices”, 2nd AG Dalek told him.

“Progenitor? What's that when it's at home?” the Doctor asked, not having heard of it before.

“It is our past, and our future”, 2nd AG Dalek replied.

“Ohhh, that's deep. That is deep for a Dalek”, the Doctor remarked a bit surprised at that “don’t you think, love?”

“Yeah that is pretty deep dear”, Alyssa answered “What does it mean, though?” she asked the Daleks.

“It contains pure Dalek DNA” the gold Dalek explained “Thousands were created. All were lost, save one”.

“Okay, but there's still one thing I don't get, though. If you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?” the Doctor asked.

“Bracewell was a robot?” Alyssa asked surprised.

“Yes he is”, the Doctor answered.

“It was…necessary”, 2nd AG Dalek admitted.

“But why?” he asked, then it hit him “I get it. Oh, I get it! I get it. Oh ho, this is rich!” he laughed “The Progenitor wouldn't recognise you, would it? It saw you as impure. Your DNA is unrecognisable as Dalek”

“A solution was devised”, 1st AG Dalek said.

“Yes, yes, yes. Me. My testimony. So you set a trap” the Doctor said figuring it out, why they needed _his_ testimony “You knew that the Progenitor would recognise me, the Daleks' greatest enemy. It would accept my word. My recognition of you”. The 1st AG Dalek turned to the instrument panel behind it. “No. No, no. What are you doing?” the Doctor demeaned holding out the jammy dodger.

“Withdraw now, or the city dies in flames”, the gold Dalek threatened.

“Who are you kidding?” the Doctor scoffed “This ship is a wreck. You don't have the power to destroy London”.

“Watch as the humans destroy themselves”, the gold Dalek said. A dish on the outside of the ship lowers and shoots out a beam of energy towards London. The Doctor and Alyssa watched as all of London suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Amy’s down there”, Alyssa breathed, now very afraid for the girl. The Doctor spun around and brandished the jammy dodger.

“Turn those lights off now!” the Doctor demanded brandishing the jammy dodger “Turn London off or I swear I will use the TARDIS self-destruct!”

“He’s not joking”, Alyssa added. She could sense his anger…his seriousness. If she didn’t know that the ‘TARDIS self-destruct’ was just a jammy dodger, she was sure that he was completely serious about blowing up the blue box.  

“Stalemate, Doctor” 2nd AG Dalek said. It knew the Doctor _wouldn’t_ use the self-destruct just it knew they weren’t going to turn London’s lights off “Leave us and return to Earth”.

“Oh, that's it. That's your great victory? You leave?” the Doctor spat out.

“Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again”, 2nd AG Dalek said.

“No, no, no! I won't let you get away this time! I won't!” the Doctor shouted. He _couldn’t_ let them go. If he did they could come back, stronger than ever. He HAD to end it, here and now.

There was a mechanical whoosh and then a soft thrumming.

“We have succeeded. DNA reconstruction is complete”, 2nd AG Dalek announced.

The three Daleks moved back from a set of doors, now glowing with a red energy. The doors slide open a moment later. “Observe, a new Dalek paradigm” 1st AG Dalek said sounding as excited as a Dalek could get.

Alyssa clutched the Doctor’s arm as 5 new, larger and brightly coloured Daleks emerge one by one from the Progenitor cabinet “The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks. The resurrection of the master race” 2nd AG Dalek declared.

The Doctor gently squeezed Alyssa’s hand, the one that was tightly holding his arm. He too was horrified at the new Daleks. They watched as the old Daleks praised the newly created ones. “All hail the new Daleks. All hail the new Daleks!”

“Yes, you are inferior!” the white Dalek announced, its voice deeper and more menacing.

“Yes”

“Then prepare”

“We are ready!” the three old Daleks stated.

“Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!” the white Dalek ordered.

The blue and red Daleks fired at the two army green Daleks and the lone gold one, destroying them completely. Alyssa jumped, rather startled by this turn of events. The Doctor was just as surprised as she was.                                                                                                                      

“Blimey. What do you do to the ones who mess up?” the Doctor remarked.

“You are the Doctor!” the white Dalek said turning back to him “You must be exterminated!”

The Doctor tugged Alyssa behind himself and then held out the jammy dodger “Don't mess with me, sweetheart”, he warned.

“We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race”, the white Dalek announced “Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal and the Supreme”.

“Which would be you, I'm guessing?” the Doctor said eyeing him “Well, you know, nice paint job. I'd be feeling pretty swish if I looked like you. Pretty ‘Supr-eme’”.

Alyssa lightly whacked the back of his head “not sure goading them is the best idea”, she said.

“Question is, what do we do now?” the Doctor asked, ignoring the fact that his fiancé had just hit him “either you turn off your clever machine, or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity”.

“You would not kill yourself, or the female”, the white Dalek said.

“I’ve already died once”, Alyssa spoke up “and I’d do it all again if it meant stopping you lot”. That made the Doctor very uneasy. Yes, he was only bluffing…but how his hearts stopped at her words. He’d never want her to give up her life like that. Never.

“Scan reveals the item in your hand is not a TARDIS self-destruct device” the blue Dalek stated “It is non-existent”.

The Doctor took a bite of the jammy dodger away “All right, it's a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea”, he said.

Suddenly an alarm sounded. The blue Dalek goes to the scanner “Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching!” it announced. The Doctor went over to a second scanner “Correction, multiple projectiles!” the blue Dalek said correcting himself.

“What have the humans done?” the white Daleks asked.

“I don't know”, the Doctor replied as he looked at the multiple blips on the scanner. Alyssa frowned at the scanner too. What were they doing?

“Explain! Explain! Explain!” the white Dalek demanded.

“Danny Boy to the Doctor-Ali!” a pilot’s voice called over the speakers “Danny Boy to the Doctor-Ali! Are you receiving me? Over”. 

“Oh ho! Winston, you beauty!” the Doctor cheered happily.

“Danny Boy to the Doctor-Ali! Come in. Over” the pilot repeated.

“We hear you Danny Boy!” Alyssa called back, just as happy at the Time Lord.

“Big dish, side of the ship”, the Doctor added “Blow it up! Over!” and with that he and Alyssa made a run for the TARDIS, the Dalek’s opening fire on them. Alyssa used her powers to ensure that the Dalek’s deadly rays didn’t meet their target.

By the time the Doctor and Alyssa had made it to the TARDIS and patched into the transmission so that they could communicate with the pilots, only one was left. “Danny Boy to the Doctor-Ali …only me left now. Anything you can do, sir, ma’am Over”.

The Doctor glanced at Alyssa who nodded “we can disrupt the shields temporarily”, she said, having been told how to be the TARDIS.

The Time Lord picked up small microphone and spoke into it as Alyssa frantically worked at the controls. “The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Ali is working to disrupt the shields but once they’re done it won’t be for very long”, the Doctor told Danny Boy.

“Good show. Go to it. Over”, the pilot said.

“Done”, Alyssa said to the Doctor.

“The Doctor to Danny Boy the shields have been disrupted”, the Time Lord said into microphone.

“I'm going in. Wish me luck. Over”, the pilot said.

“Good luck Danny Boy”. The pair only had to wait a moment before the pilot shouted happily

“Direct hit! The dish is gone!” The Doctor and Alyssa laughed in delight at the news “Danny Boy to the Doctor…going in for another attack”, the pilot told them.

“The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship!” the Doctor commanded “Over”

“What about you, two?” Danny Boy questioned.

“We'll be okay”, the Doctor replied putting an arm around Alyssa, kissing her temple.

Suddenly the white Dalek appeared on the large circular screen in the TARDIS wall “Doctor, call off your attack”, it ordered.

“Ah ha, what?” the Doctor laughed “and let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end”, he said leaning against the railing.

“Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth” the white Dalek threatened.

Alyssa scoffed “You just played your last card. No dish means no way to turn on London’s lights. Ergo, you’re a bit buggered”, she said.

“Bracewell is a bomb” the white Dalek informed them. 

“You're bluffing”, he said “Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body” he thought about what he said and then corrected himself “there isn't a bone in your body”.

“His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum” the white Dalek told him “Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android” it threatened.

“Maybe we should let them go”, Alyssa said quietly.

“No. They killed you”, the Doctor said “I’m not letting them go” and with that he walked over to the console, turning on the scanner to address the Dalek on it “You’re last of the Daleks. I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all”. This was his only chance to end it. No more Daleks. No more suffering. Millions of lives will be saved if the Daleks were no more. _Alyssa_ would be safe. That’s all that really mattered to him, that she was safe. Yes, he cared about all the other humans but the woman he loved with all his hearts came first. She would always come first, no matter what.

“Then do it” the white Dalek challenged “But we will shatter the planet below. The Earth will die screaming”.

“Yeah, and if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever” the Doctor countered glaring at the screen “A new race of Daleks”.

“Then choose, Doctor. Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth” the white Dalek taunted “Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum. Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!”

Alyssa snatched up the microphone “Ali to Danny Boy. Withdraw”, she ordered.

“Say again, mam. Over”

“Withdraw!” Alyssa shouted “Return to Earth. Over and out”. 

“But sir…!” the pilot protested.

“There's no time” Alyssa snapped “You have to return to Earth now! Over!”

“Ali I don’t think you should’ve done that”, the Doctor said.

“I don’t care. I don’t want to lose my home”, Alyssa shot back, dropping the microphone and started to frantically pilot the TARDIS back to earth. The Doctor helped her out as best as he could which wasn’t easy given the panicked state she was in. He understood her desire to protect the Earth, it _was_ her home after all. And in some ways it was his home too. While he’d have rather stopped the Daleks then and there, he was willing to put it on hold in order to stop the bomb and save the planet.

The moment it landed in the storage room, Alyssa was out of the door, racing down the corridor to the Map Room, the Doctor hurrying after her. She burst into the Map Room and with a flick of the wrist, she had Bracewell on his back. “Ali!” Amy exclaimed, appalled.

“Sorry, Professor, but you're a Dalek bomb”, Alyssa said crouching down beside him.

“What?” Bracewell asked shocked.

“There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you. A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension” the Doctor explained quickly kneeling down next to Alyssa “Now keep down”.

He flashed his sonic over Bracewell’s torso to open it up. “Well?” Amy asked as one of the five blue segments of the circle turned yellow.

“I dunno know, I dunno know, I dunno know” the Doctor said panicking. He had good reason to be. His fiancé was in the room with a very powerful bomb that could destroy the Earth “Never seen one up close before”. 

“So what, they've wired him up to detonate?” the Time Lady questioned, trying to understand what he was saying.

“Oh no, not wired him up. He _is_ a bomb” the Doctor corrected her “Walking, talking” he made an exploding sound effect “exploding! The moment that flashes red”.

“There's…a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there?” Amy offered, trying to help “There's always a blue wire” the Doctor stood up “Or a red one”. 

“You're not helping!” he snapped.

“Doctor…” Alyssa said in a warning tone, giving him a look.

“Sorry”, the Doctor muttered. He felt bad for snapping at Amy, he knew she was trying to help but he was too worried about the current danger to the woman he planned to marry to be polite.

“It's incredible. He talked to us about his memories. The Great War…”Churchill said looking down at Bracewell in wonder.

“Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain”, the Doctor said, tossing the sonic back and forth between his hands, his mind and hearts racing as he tried to figure out how to disarm Bracewell “Tell me about it. Bracewell. Tell me about your life!” he knelt back down.

“Doctor, I really don't think this is the time!” Bracewell said.

“Tell me, and prove you're human. Tell me everything”, the Doctor ordered. If Bracewell believed that he was human then the bomb wouldn’t explode. Or at least he really hoped that was the case.

One of the sections was already red, the second segment of the circle now turned yellow.

“My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey, just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but…but there was a storm”, Bracewell said in a strained voice.

“And your parents? Come on, tell me”, the Doctor encouraged.

“Good people. Kind people. They died. Scarlet fever”, Bracewell told them, tears in his eyes. Alyssa looked down at him sympathetically, familiar with the pain of loss.

“What was that like? How did it feel? How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me. Tell me now”, the Doctor urged.

“It hurt. It hurt, Doctor, it hurt so badly” Amy took hold of Alyssa’s hand as she saw the red head tear up “It was like a wound. I thought it was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out” Alyssa closed her eyes, tears slipping down her face. What he felt over the deaths of his parents, is exactly how she felt over the loss of her grandmother. She felt like she wanted to die…in fact she had tried to take her own life. She wasn’t proud of that fact but she was at least grateful that she hadn’t succeeded. If she had, then she would never have met the Doctor. “There was nothing left”, Bracewell said as he cried, remembering.

The second segment of the circle turn red, the third turning yellow.

“Good. Remember it now, Edwin” the Doctor pressed “The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad, and losing them, and men in the trenches you saw die…Remember it. Feel it. You feel it because you're human” the third segment turns red “You're not like them. You're not like the Daleks!”

“It hurts, Doctor! It hurts so much!” Bracewell gasped as he continued to cry. Alyssa tightened her hand around Amy’s and opened her eyes.

“Good! Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it” the fourth section turned red “That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb, you're a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a human being!” the fifth section turned yellow “It's not working! I can't stop it!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Go on”, Alyssa said to Amy, seeing the look on her face “help him”. The ginger woman let go of her hand, went over and knelt beside Bracewell.

“Hey” she said softly “Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?”

“W…what?” Bracewell looked at her.

“It hurts, doesn't it?” Amy asked, the last segment of the circle remained yellow “But kind of a good hurt”. 

“I really shouldn't talk about her”, Bracewell said. 

“Oh. There's a her”, Amy teased with a smile as the fifth section turned back to blue.

“What was her name?” the Doctor asked seeing where Amy was going.

“Dorabella”, Bracewell breathed out.

“That’s a beautiful name”, Alyssa commented “What was she like, Edwin?”

“Oh…such a smile…And her eyes….Her eyes were so blue…Almost violet, like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world….Dorabella…” Bracewell sighed with a dreamy look on his face. Then all the segments turned blue.

“Welcome to the human race”, the Doctor said happy that the bomb had been disarmed. He glanced at Alyssa, his smile dropping at the sight of tear stains on her cheeks. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Elizabeth…Ellie”, she replied simply. The Doctor’s eyes widened at that. Oh, he was so stupid! He knew that she’d lost both her gran and her best friend. Both deaths had hit her hard. She’d started to cope with it, started to move on…then he had go an urge Bracewell to talk about losing his parents which of course brought it all back for the Time Lady.

“Love, I’m sorry”, the Doctor breathed putting his arms around her “I’m so sorry”. Alyssa closed her eyes, seeking the comfort his embrace provided.

\---------------------

As a new day dawned over London, the Air Raid Warden and a few troops raised the flagpole with a Union Flag. Once it was upright, they all saluted it proudly.

In the Map Room, things were a lot quieter. “So, what now, then?” Amy asked Churchill.

“I still have a war to run, Miss Pond”, the man replied.

“Prime Minister” a young woman handed over some papers to Churchill.

“Oh, thank you” he read the document “Oh, they hit the Palace and Saint Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it” Churchill reported right before Breen burst into tears.

“Is she okay?” Amy asked looking over at the woman, concerned.

“What?” Churchill asked looking up from the papers.

“She looks very upset” Amy gestured over to Breen who was being comforted by another woman.

“Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the Channel” Churchill explained sadly “Where's the Doctor? And Miss Palmer?”

“Tying up loose ends”, the Doctor called walking in with Alyssa, holding her hand. He’d barley let go of her since Bracewell told them that the Daleks had gotten away “I’ve taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in”.

“Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those Spitfires would win me the war in twenty hours”, Churchill pleaded.

“Exactly”, the Doctor said knowing that the war had to continue on for a few more years, like it’s supposed to.

“But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?” Churchill questioned wondering why the Doctor would be against him having all that amazing technology.

“Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston, and it's going to be tough” the Doctor said truthfully “There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can”.

“Stay with us, and help us win through. The world needs you” Churchill knew what a valuable ally the Doctor would be for their cause.

“The world doesn't need me”, the Doctor said. _There was someone who needed me more_ he thought looking at Alyssa from the corner of his eye. He’d made a mental note to take her somewhere nice to get her mind off of all of this…Rio perhaps? Or maybe back to Iceland to look at the Northern Lights…she loved those.

“No?” Churchill looked less than convinced.

“The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill”, the Doctor said with a smile making the ‘v for victory’ sign.

“It's been a pleasure, Doctor, as always” Churchill put the papers down on the desk.

“Too right”, the Doctor agreed. Churchill opened his arms and the Doctor let go of Alyssa’s hand so he could give the man a hug.

“Goodbye, Doctor”, Churchill said. 

“Oh, shall we say adieu?” the Doctor said and they ended the hug. Churchill turned to Alyssa.

“Goodbye Miss Palmer”, he said. Alyssa stepped up and hugged the man.

“It has honestly been an honour to meet you”, she said honestly as she stepped back. Churchill smiled at her before moving onto Amy.

“Goodbye, Miss Pond”

“It's…it's been amazing, meeting you”, Amy said gripping her hands under her chin.

“I'm sure it has”, Churchill said as the ginger kissed his cheek. After they’d separated, Churchill turned and started to walk away. That is until Amy called after him

“Oi, Churchill. TARDIS key” she held out her hand “the one you just took from the Doctor”. The Doctor looked at her surprised but when he checked for the key in her pockets, he came up empty.

Churchill turned back “Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin. Almost as sharp as me” he put his hand in his pocket and frowned when he couldn’t find it. Alyssa smiled and held up the key.

“Took it from your pocket when we hugged”, she said giving it back to the Doctor. Who still had a surprised look on his face. 

“Very good Miss Palmer”, Churchill said with a smile “KBO”, he added before turning and walking out of the room to get back to the war.

“Look like we got a little pickpocket on our hands, eh Doctor?” Amy remarked nudging the Time Lord.

“I’m not going to make a habit of it Amy”, Alyssa promised “it’ll only be used when someone tries to take the TARDIS key from the Doctor”.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before leaving, the trio stopped off at Bracewell’s lab. “I've been expecting you, Doctor. I knew this moment had to come”, Bracewell said when he noticed them enter.

“Moment?” the Doctor asked.

“It's time to deactivate me” Alyssa and Amy looked at the Doctor wondering if he was going to de-activate him. Despite him being Dalek technology, he wasn’t a danger to anyone.

“Is…it? Oh…yeah” the Doctor nodded his head slowly.

“You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business”, Bracewell said.

“No, you're dead right, Professor” the Doctor agreed “A hundred percent right. And by the time I get back here in what, 10 minutes?” he looked at Alyssa and Amy, giving them a wink so they _knew_ he wasn’t going to deactivate Bracewell.

“More like 15”, Amy corrected him, playing along.

“15 minutes, yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been…activated”

“Yeah”, Alyssa said nodding.

“15 minutes?” Bracewell repeated.

“More like 20, if I'm honest. Once Pond, Ali and I see to the urgent thing…we've got to see to. The…the…see?” the Doctor said giving him a pointed look.

“Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here and prepare myself”, Bracewell said standing up straight. The Doctor, Amy and Alyssa exchanged looks. Bracewell still hadn’t gotten the hint.

“That Dalek tech a bit slow on the uptake”, Amy said quietly to the Doctor and Alyssa, who nodded in agreement.

“That thing we've got to do, going to take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, dear?” the Time Lady asked.

“Easily! So no running off, that's what I'm saying. Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl…what was her name?”

“Dorabella”, Bracewell answered confused, wondering why he was bringing all this up.

“Dorabella”, the Doctor repeated “On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour”.

Bracewell laughed in delight as he _finally_ realized what they were trying to tell him. “Thank you. Thank you, Doctor!” he said happily.

“Come along, Pond, Ali”, the Doctor said taking Alyssa’s hand and they walked out of the room.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, you two have enemies then?” Amy commented as they approached the TARDIS.

“Everyone's got enemies”, The Doctor replied leaning against the TARDIS, Alyssa leaning against him as he put his arm around her waist.

“Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies”, Amy said leaning against the TARDIS also.

“Suppose so”, he agreed.

“And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous”, Amy said looking at him.

“Yep. Very. Is that a problem?”

 “Nope”, Amy replied “You're worried about the Daleks”, she added after a moment of silence.

“I'm always worried about the Daleks”, the Doctor said honestly, his arm tightening slightly around Alyssa.

“It'll take time though, won't it? I mean, there's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up”, Amy said trying to see a positive about the situation.

“It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten” the Doctor looked at her over Alyssa’s head “Or rather you have”. 

“Me?” Amy asked in confusion.

“You didn’t remember the Daleks”, Alyssa said quietly “You'd never seen them before”.

“And like Ali, you should have done” the Doctor added in a grave voice “You should” and with that he let go of Alyssa, unlocked the TARDIS and stepped inside. Alyssa entered next, followed by a still confused Amy.


	8. The Time of Angels part 1

“Mmm…that’s nice”, Alyssa murmured feeling the Doctor lightly trace patterns on her bare back. They’d gone back to Iceland so that the Time Lady could see the Northern Lights once more. One thing led to another and the engaged couple ended up back in their bedroom.

“Yeah?” the Doctor asked continuing his featherlight patterns on her skin.

Alyssa opened her eyes and smiled softly at him “yeah”, she agreed “and thank you for taking me back there, it was just what I needed”.

“You’re welcome, love”, the Doctor said kissing her forehead.

“You know, if we keep up with these _adventures_...we may end up as parents before we’re husband and wife”, Alyssa remarked after a moment.

“I wouldn’t mind that at all”, the Doctor told her honestly. And it was true, he wouldn’t mind if they ended up with children prior to being married. “What about you?” he asked “I know we haven’t talked about this yet”.

“I’d love to have children with you one day”, Alyssa answered “and if it happens before we get married, I’m fine with it”. She laughed when the Doctor tugged her on top of him and started kissing her face. “Doctor, we can’t”, Alyssa said as his hands settled on her hips “Amy…”

“I don’t think we need Amy’s permission, love”, the Doctor gently cut in.

“No but…” Alyssa’s breath hitched as the Time Lord pressed kisses to her neck, teeth barely grazing her skin “we did promise that we’d take her to a planet after the trip to Iceland. That was a good few hours ago”.

“We’ll take her on a trip in an hour, ok?” the Doctor suggested.

“Ok”, Alyssa agreed.

“Good”, the Doctor said and started to kiss her again.

\----------------

Amy trailed behind the Doctor and Alyssa, none too impressed by the place the Time Lords had taken her. She’d wanted to go to a planet not some dusty museum. Alyssa glanced back at Amy, clearly sensing her boredom and irritation. “You think we can go to a planet after this?” she asked her fiancé quietly “our companion is pretty bored”.

“We’ll go as soon as we’re done here”, the Doctor said looking at Amy “promise”. The ginger gave him a tight smile . She wished she could believe him but they _both_ had promised that they’d be back in 5 minutes and it ended up being 12 years. “Wrong!” the Doctor said pointing at a random object as he and Alyssa walked hand in hand “Wrong!” 

“What about that one?” Alyssa asked nodding to something in a display case as they passed.

“Bit right” the Doctor told her “but mostly wrong. I love museums”.

“So do I”, Alyssa agreed “I prefer art museums though”.

“Is that why you got that job? Because you love art?” the Doctor questioned.

“In part”, Alyssa answered.

“You’ve got a job?” Amy spoke up, surprised.

“Yeah, I work at the British Museum, conserving pieces of art”, Alyssa explained. She stopped when a thought occurred to her “actually I don’t even know if I’ve still got the job. Haven’t been in a while…should probably stop by hand and in my notice…” she murmured “shame, I worked hard to get that job”.

“Maybe you can still work there”, the Doctor said “the arrangement you made before would still work now”.

“Only way I’m gonna know is if I go”, Alyssa pointed out.

“We can go after we’re done here”, the Doctor offered.

“Uh, no, dear. Did you forget? We’re taking Amy to a planet next”, Alyssa reminded him.

“Oh yeah….” The Doctor realised.

The Time Lady shook her head fondly at him “Doctor, I love you but sometimes you can be a bit forgetful and occasionally oblivious”, she said kissing his cheek before she wandered off to check out some of the other displays.

She paused by one square shaped display case where metal cube sat inside. Her eyes widened at what was engraved on the top. “It can’t be”, she breathed. She glanced up at the Doctor who was peering at another display case “dear, could you come here a moment?” she called. The Time Lord walked over to her. “Does this say what I think it says?” she asked pointing to the cube.

The Doctor glanced down at the cube, his eyes widened at the inscription. “Oh great, on old box”, Amy said, joining the pair, looking none to impressed about it.

“Its not an old box. It’s a Home Box”, the Doctor corrected, still rather in shock in the message on the top of it.

“What's a Home Box?” Amy asked. 

“Like a black box on a plane, except it homes” the Doctor explained “Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data”.

“And the weird patterny thing?” Amy questioned eyeing it. Both Time Lords appeared to be rather…shocked over it and she didn’t understand why.

“The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan” the Doctor told her “The lost language of the Time Lords”.

“How can I understand it then?” Alyssa asked.

“Well you _are_ a Time Lady Ali”, Amy pointed out.

“Yes, but I’ve not long been a Time Lady”, Alyssa said to the ginger “I shouldn’t be able to understand something like that…should I Doctor?”

“Usually I’d say no but as you are the TARDIS’ daughter…” Amy looked at them both with a confused look on her face at that “…there’s probably a few things that you’ll understand, even more than I do in some respects”.

“So…um…what does it say?” Amy asked.

“Hello, Lyssa”, the Doctor replied.

“We should take it”, Alyssa said.

“No”, the Doctor said quickly and firmly.

“Doctor she left it there for a reason”, Alyssa said “what if she needs our help?”

“Don’t care. Remember the Valiant?” the Doctor shot back.

Alyssa sighed “are you still going to hold it against her?” she asked.

“Yes”, the Doctor answered.

“Well, I’m taking it anyway”, Alyssa said before she smashed the glass with her powers and snatched up the Home Box. The trio raced back to the TARDIS, managing to get into the ship before the guards reached them.

“I still don’t think you should’ve done that”, the Doctor said as Alyssa threw the lever to send them into the time vortex.

“Noted”, the red head said “Now can you attach the Home Box to the console please?”

The Doctor nodded, taking the Home Box and started to do as she said. “Why are you doing that if you’re not happy with whoever left that message?” Amy asked watching him work.

“Because my fiancé would probably hijack the TARDIS to help the message leaver if I don’t do it”, the Doctor said.

“I wouldn’t need to hijack Sexy”, Alyssa said peering around the rotor at them “she’d help me anyway”.

“That’s because she likes you more”, the Doctor grumbled.

“I am her daughter, dear”, Alyssa reminded him “that’s probably why she likes me better…or its due to the fact  I don’t abuse her”.

The Doctor didn’t answer her, he just decided to continue working. “I’ve got it, love”, he reported after he put the last wire into the box. Alyssa joined them around the other side just as a grainy black and white video feed began to play on the scanner. They watched as River Song, wearing a formal dress, pulled down her sunglasses and winked at the camera. The feed switched to one which showed the back of River.

“The party's over, Doctor Song…” a man spoke off camera “…yet still you're on board”

River turned around “Sorry, Alistair” she said, not sounding sorry at all “I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination”.

“Wait till she runs” Alistair ordered “Don't make it look like an execution”. 

River Song glanced at her watch “Triple-seven five slash, three, four, nine by ten” the Doctor, Amy and Alyssa exchanged looks “Zero twelve slash acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor”. 

“What was that? What did she say?” Amy asked as Alyssa started to type on the keyboard.

“Coordinates”, Alyssa replied “dear, get the door for River please”, she said. The Doctor hesitated for a moment, actually considering leaving River out in space but then he realised that his fiancé would never forgive him for it. And considering her new status as a Time Lady, to never be forgiven for anything is the worst possible thing imaginable.

He darted for the door, yanking it open and held out his hand. He reached out for River, grasping her hand and pulled her inside, both of them falling to the floor. “Welcome onboard River”, Alyssa said cheerly.

“Thanks Lyssa”, River said getting to her feet “Now follow that ship!” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am”, Alyssa said.

\--------------------

Amy watched as Alyssa, the Doctor and River all worked frantically at the console. “They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them! Stay close!” River said noticing this on the scanner.

“We’re trying River!” the Doctor shouted.

“Is not as easy as it looks”, Alyssa added. Which was completely true, it wasn’t easy trying to keep up with what the TARDIS was telling her to do AND with what the River and Doctor was doing as well.

“Use the stabilisers Lyssa”, River suggested. The red head stilled her rapid movements and stared at her. Stabilisers! Of course! The Time Lady internally smacked her forehead. She knew about the stabilisers but never used them as the Doctor preferred a bumpy ride through the time vortex.

“There aren't any stabilisers”, the Doctor retorted as Alyssa reached for them.

“The blue switches”, River said nodding to the blue buttons.

“Oh, the blue ones don't do anything, they're just…blue”, the Doctor said waving her off.

“Dear, they’re the _blue stabilisers_ ”, Alyssa said and pressed them. Almost immediately the ship became quiet and still “See?”

“Yeah. Well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers”, the Doctor said annoyed.

“How come River can fly the TARDIS?” Amy asked making her way to stand next to him.

“You call that flying the TARDIS?” the Doctor said going over to the jump seat, flopping down on it “Hardly”, he scoffed.

“Doctor if it wasn’t for her suggestion of the stabilisers, we’d still be trying to chase after the ship”, Alyssa pointed out.

“I’m sure you would’ve figured that out as the thing to do, love”, the Doctor said “you are brilliant that way”. He got up, walked over to her “and beautiful…” he leaned closer to her ear “…Sexy” he murmured “and all mine”.

“Keep talking like that and there’ll be an _adventure_ later on”, Alyssa said quietly.

“Promise?” the Doctor asked rather thrilled by the prospect.

“Absolutely”, Alyssa confirmed with a smile. Amy and River watched as the Doctor kissed the Time Lady long and hard.

 “I love you”, he declared.

“I love you too”, Alyssa said.

River watched them for a moment, a small happy smile on her face. As they never seem to meet in the right order, it always made her happy to see that their relationship was strong even in the ‘early’ days. She turned to the scanner. “Ok. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside”, she informed the Time Lords and Amy.

“Parked us?” the Doctor scoffed “We haven't landed”.

“Of course we've landed” River corrected “ _I_ just landed her”.

“No, you didn’t. It didn’t make the noise”, the Doctor stated, Alyssa hearing a slight whine in his voice underneath his cross tone.

“What noise?” River asked.

“You know, the…” the Doctor imitated the wheezing noise.

“It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on”, River said.

“In all fairness, I kinda like that noise”, Alyssa admitted “and I know the Doctor loves it…so we leave the breaks on”.

“Yeah, I do love it”, the Doctor agreed. He ran over to the doors “Come along, Pond, Ali. Let's have a look”.

“No, wait. Environment checks”, River called.

“Oh yes, sorry. Quite right. Environment checks” much to Alyssa’s surprise, the Doctor opened the door and stuck his head out.

“Nice out”, the Doctor commented pulling his head back in.

“We're somewhere in the Garn Belt”, River said looking at the scanner “There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that…”

“We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System” the Doctor cut in quickly “Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day and…” he stuck his head out of the door again “chances of rain later”.

River rolled her eyes and turned to Alyssa “He thinks he's _so_ hot when he does that”, she said. 

“He _is_ hot when he does that”, Alyssa said casting a glance at her fiancé. The Doctor grinned, having heard her.

“How come you can fly the TARDIS?” Amy asked as the Doctor walked up the steps, stopping by Alyssa and putting an arm around her.

“Oh, I had lessons from the very best”, River replied.

“Well, yeah”, the Doctor began smugly.

“I didn’t mean you, I meant your brilliant fiancé”, River said causing the Doctor’s smug look to be wiped off his face. He quickly recovered and said 

“Can’t argue with that, she is brilliant” the Doctor kissed Alyssa on the cheek.

River picked up her high heels from where she’d hung them on the scanner and headed for the door “Right then, why did they land here?” she asked.

“They didn't land”, the Doctor called after her.

“Sorry?” River asked as she walked.

“You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed”, the Doctor said following her. River stepped outside the doors which the Time Lady quickly closed behind her and rushed back to the console.

“Explain!” Amy demanded “Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?”

“It's a long story and I don't know most of it” the Doctor replied, working at the controls “Off we go!”

“What about Rive?” Alyssa asked “we can’t just leave her behind”.

“Yes we can”, the Doctor answered, still working at the controls “She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go”.

“Are you basically running away?” Amy questioned.

“Yep” the Doctor nodded.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Because she's the future”, the Doctor replied. _She also indirectly harmed the light of my lives_ he mentally added.

“Can you run away from that?” Amy asked curiously.

“I can run away from anything I like”, the Doctor told her “Time is not the boss of me”.

“Dear…that’s a planet out there isn’t it?” Alyssa suddenly asked.

“What about it?”

“We made a promise”, she said looking pointedly at Amy.

“But…River…” he started.

“We don’t even need to go anywhere near her”, Alyssa said softly, taking his hand “just 5 minutes, ok?”

The Doctor nodded “ok, 5 minutes”, he agreed.

“Yes!” Amy cheered and rushed for the door.

“But that's all, because I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!” the Doctor called after her.

“What about me dear?” Alyssa asked.

“You can drag me anywhere, love”, the Doctor replied.

“Great!” Alyssa said taking hold of his hand and led him out of the TARDIS. The beach they stepped out on to was littered with debris from the crashed spaceship, some of the pieces on fire.

“What caused it to crash?” River asked looking up at the burning wreck of the once sleek spaceship that was partly sticking out of an old stone carved building “Not me”.

“Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it”, the Doctor replied “According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors”.

“A phase shift would have to be sabotage” River sighed “I did warn them”.

“About what?” Alyssa asked.

“Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries” River said taking out a device from her purse and started typing something into it.

“Aren't you going to introduce us?” Amy asked.

“Amy Pond, Professor River Song”, the Doctor said quickly introducing them to each other.

“Uh, dear? That was a spoiler”, Alyssa told him quietly.

The Doctor flinched at his mistake “oops”, he muttered.

“A Professor? How exciting”, River said sounding delighted about that. The Doctor flinched at his mistake “Spoilers”.

“I'm nobody's taxi service!” the Doctor said grumpily “that was the first and only time I’m going to catch you when you jump out of a spaceship”.

“And you are _so_ wrong” River looked at the ship “There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die” she glanced back to see the Doctor looking curious “Now he's listening!” she lifted the device in her hands up to her ear and spoke “You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal” River walked off a little ways away and held up her device but the signal was too weak.

She turned around “Doctor, can you sonic me?” she called “I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon”. The Doctor took out his sonic from his pocket and does what she asked, though rather reluctantly. River dropped into a small curtsey and continued signalling whoever she was contacting.

“Ooh, Doctor, you _soniced_ her”, Amy teased.

“We have a minute” River called motioning them over “Shall we?” the trio walk over to her as she got out her TARDIS coloured diary “Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?” River asked after flipping through a few pages.

“What's the book?” Amy asked curious.

“Stay away from it”, the Doctor warned her.

“But what is it though?” Amy asked, not one to give up.

“Its her diary, the only way she can keep track as we don’t meet in the right order”, Alyssa explained.

“Well put Lyssa but its _our_ diary”, River corrected. A moment later 4 columns of swirling ‘dust’ appeared turning into four soldiers in desert camouflage.

One of the soldier’s walked up to River, the Doctor, Alyssa and Amy. “You promised me an army, Doctor Song”, the solider, Father Octavian, said to the woman.

“No, I promised you the equivalent of an army”, River corrected him “this is the Doctor”. The Time Lord in question gave a light-hearted salute.

“Father Octavian, Sir” Octavian reached out and shook the Doctor’s hand “Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?”

“Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?” River asked. The Doctor immediately tensed up at those words. The last time, he was sent back in time with Martha leaving Alyssa to deal with them alone. Well…technically she wasn’t alone, she had help from Sally Sparrow and friend. Regardless, she was put in a dangerous situation where he couldn’t help her…couldn’t protect her…and that was never, ever happening again.


	9. Time of the Angels part 2

Hours later the camp for the troops had been set up which included a small drop module where River was currently dressing into something more appropriate for the situation. Octavian strode across the ground with the Doctor and Alyssa following him. The Time Lady kept her gaze forward even though she was very aware of the presence of their companion trailing behind them at a ‘discrete’ distance. She should’ve alerted the Doctor to the fact that the ginger wasn’t doing as they said but she didn’t. She knew Amy was curious and didn’t blame her one bit.

“The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship”, Father Octavian explained “Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this…” he showed the Doctor and Alyssa a map on a similar device that River had “behind the cliff face there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up”.

“Oh, good”, the Doctor said looking at the cliff face, thinking about how not good it was.

“Good, sir?” Octavian asked.

“Catacombs, probably dark ones, dark catacombs. Great”, the Time Lord grumbled. Alyssa rubbed his back, sensing his unease.

“Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead”, Octavian corrected him.

“You’re not helping Father”, Alyssa said sensing the Doctor’s unease growing.

“Father Octavian?” a soldier called.

“Excuse me, sir” and with that Octavian turned and walked away.

“I wish you weren’t going, Ali”, the Doctor said quietly “I lost you once, I can’t do it again”.

“You wont lose me”, Alyssa assured him. She showed him her engagement ring “you’re stuck with me forever”, she said with a smile. The Doctor returned her smile, taking her hand and dropping a kiss onto it.

“There's no one I'd rather be stuck with”, the Doctor said “future Mrs Doctor”.

Amy moved over to sit on a table beside some equipment “So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?” she asked trying to sound chipper although she couldn't help but feel jealous of the Time Lady. After all the red head had the affections of the man...alien that she'd fallen for.

“Now that's interesting…” the Doctor over at her “You're still here. Which part of wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe was so confusing?”

“Ooo, you are all Mister Grumpy Face today”, Amy said with a fake pout.

“A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in….”

“You mean WE are going to climb in”, Alyssa interrupted “you're _not_ going on your own”.

“No, you're right”, the Doctor agreed. He turned back to Amy “We are going to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming that we manage survive the radiation long enough and assuming the whole ship doesn't explode in our faces, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's our day. That's what we're up to. Any questions?”

“Is River Song your wife?” Amy asked.

“Why would you think she’s my wife?” The Doctor questioned “Ali is my fiancé, not River”.

 “Well, she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that”, Amy answered “She's kind of like, you know, ‘heel, boy’ and Ali here hasn’t done anything like that. So River’s got to be Mrs Doctor from the future”.

“Amy you better listen closely because I am only going to say this once. River is not nor will she ever be my wife”, the Doctor said firmly “got it?”

“Ok, ok I got it”, Amy said putting her hands up. She didn’t think he was going to react the way he did when she asked the question.

River stepped out of the drop module, now dressed in the same desert camouflage as the other soldiers “Doctor! Lyssa! Father Octavian!” she called before going back inside.

“Why do they call him Father?” Alyssa asked as they all walked over to the drop module.

“He's their Bishop, they're his Clerics”, the Doctor replied “It's the fifty first Century. The Church has moved on”.

They all entered the drop module to see black and white footage of a Weeping Angel on a screen. Its back was towards them, hands over its eyes. “What do you think?” River asked as she controlled the footage with a remote “It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop”.

The five of them watched the four seconds played over, a small blip of static in the middle of the loop. “Yeah, it's an Angel” the Doctor confirmed “Hands covering its face”.

“You've encountered the Angels before?” Octavian asked.

“Once, on Earth, a long time ago” the Doctor explained.

“But those were scavengers, barely surviving”, Alyssa added.

“But it's just a statue”, Amy said looking at the Angel confused. _How could a statue be dangerous?_

“It's a statue when you see it”, River said.

“Where did it come from?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all that time”, River answered.

“There's a difference between dormant and patient”, the Time Lord corrected her.

“What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?” Amy asked, not understanding.

“The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it”, River told her.

Alyssa shook her head “it’s not a legend”, she said “they _can’t_ move when you look at them but the minute you turn your back…” she shivered remembering when she found the Angel in the basement of that house they were investigating. It had given her such a fright at how fast the thing moved.

The Doctor gently squeezed her shoulder to remind her that she wasn’t alone this time. This time around they weren’t separated by several decades. He then took her hand, turned and walked out of the drop module, Amy, River and Octavian following.

“The hyperdrive would've split on impact” he said eyeing the ship as he walked “that whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing”.

“Deadly to an Angel?” Octavian asked hopefully.

“Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow” the Doctor said and turned to River “Who built that temple? Are they still around?” he asked.

“The Aplans” River answered looking down at her device “Indigenous life form. They died out four hundred years ago”.

“Two hundred years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists”, Octavian added.

“You lot, you're everywhere! You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you”, the Doctor commented with an amused smile.

“Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population…” Octavian began.

“Oh, there is” the Doctor said seriously “Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!”

“Verger, how are we doing with those explosives?” Octavian asked walking past the Doctor “Doctor Song, with me”.

“Two minutes” River said before walking over to the equipment table “Doctor, I need you”, the curly haired woman called to the Time Lord.

The Doctor hesitated. He didn’t exactly want to be around the woman any longer than he had to. “Go talk to her”, Alyssa said sensing his hesitation “we’ll wait in the drop module”.

The Time Lord nodded “I wont be long”, he promised.

“Come on, lets wait in the drop module”, Alyssa said ushering Amy towards it while the Doctor wandered over to where River was standing.

When Amy and Alyssa entered the drop module however, they noticed that there was a slight change in the Angel on the screen. It was slightly looking over its shoulder, hands no longer covering its face. “That’s strange”, Amy commented “I thought they only had one clip of the Angel on a loop”.

“That what River said”, Alyssa said “but I’ll double check”. She went over to the open doorway “River!” she called leaning out “Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?”

“No, just the four seconds”, River replied.

“What did she say?” Amy asked glancing back at Alyssa as she stepped back.

“She says there’s only one clip”, the brunette replied. Amy looked back at the screen and was startled to see that the Angel was now facing forwards. “Ali, the Angel’s moved again”, she said. Alyssa rushed over, her eyes widening when she saw this.

“That can’t be”, she breathed. Alyssa leant forward and peered closely at the time code and frowned when she saw it loop around from 11:24 to 11:28 “four seconds. It’s the same four seconds over and over”. As she peered at the time code and as Amy looked at the screen, the door slid shut behind them and locked.

“If it’s the same four seconds of footage, how is the Angel moving?” Amy asked as Alyssa straightened up.

“I don’t know”, she replied “but I think we should try turning the screen off”, she suggested “If the screen is off then the clip can’t play”.

“And if the clip can’t play then the Angel won’t be able to move”, Amy nodded understanding her reasoning. She picked up the remote from the table, pointed it at the screen and pressed the button. It switches off but turns itself back on almost immediately. Amy tried a couple more times with the same result.

Alyssa took the remote and tried to turn it off but the same thing happened to her as well. “Ok, plan b”, she said putting the remote down.

“Plan b?” Amy asked.

“Pull the plug”, Alyssa said and walked up to the monitor. She bent down, grasped the power cord and gave it a yank but it didn’t budge.

“Ali…the Angel’s moved again”, Amy said starting to feel a little scared. Alyssa looked up and saw the Angel very close to the camera. Startled, she jumped to her feet.

“Door. Now!” Alyssa ordered. They ran to the door and tried to get it open but they couldn’t. It was like the door was locked. The pair glanced back at the screen and saw the Angel snarling at them, fangs showing.

“Doctor!” Amy and Alyssa shouted.

The Time Lady looked back at the Weeping Angel. It was partially out of the TV. “Amy I need you to look at the Angel while I try to get the door open”, Alyssa said “don’t look away and don’t blink”. Amy turned to the Weeping Angel.

“How are you going to get the door open?” she asked as she stared at the living statue.

“I’m going to use my head”, Alyssa replied, vaguely. She stood in front of the door, trying to muster up as much psychic energy as she could.

“Ali…I need to blink”, Amy said, her eyes watering from staring at the Weeping Angel.

“Hold on a minute longer”, Alyssa said. She released the energy as a psychic blast but all it did was hit the door with a terrific bang, leaving behind a dent.

“That’s it?” Amy asked looking at the door, disappointed. Alyssa glanced at her, eyes widening when she saw the Weeping Angel in the middle of the room.

“I told you not to look away!” Alyssa exclaimed pointing over the ginger’s shoulder. Amy spun around and gasped. Suddenly there was a banging outside of the drop module.

“Ali! What's happening?” the Doctor shouted.

 “The Angel’s in the room!” Alyssa shouted “It's coming out of the television!”

“Keep looking at it!” the Doctor ordered as he flashed his sonic on the keypad “I’ll try to get the door open”.

“What's wrong?” River asked seeing the angry look on the Time Lord’s face as he glared at the keypad.

“Deadlocked”, the Doctor replied.

“There is no deadlock”, River told him as she tried to override the controls.

“Don't blink, Ali! Amy! Don't even blink!” the Doctor shouted moving over to a small box on the side of the unit.

“What are you doing?” River questioned as he frantically tried to sonic the box.

“Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off” the Doctor explained “No good, it's deadlocked the whole system”.

“There's no deadlock”, River repeated.

“There is now!” the Doctor snapped, his hearts hammering in his chest. His fiancé was trapped with a Weeping Angel. He had to get in there! He was NOT lose the love of his lives!

“Can you turn the screen off?” he asked going up to the door.

“We tried”, Amy called as she and Alyssa stared at the Angel, backs pressed against the door, absolutely terrified.

“Try again. But don't take your eyes off the Angel”, the Doctor told them.

Amy and Alyssa slowly edged forward keeping their eyes fixed on the Angel. “Amy get the remote, I’ll watch the Angel”, Alyssa told her. Amy nodded, turning to the table and grabbed the remote. She made sure to blink a couple of times before going back to where Alyssa stood.

 “I’ve got it. You can blink Ali”, Amy said staring at the Angel. The brunette blinked gratefully as her eyes had started to water from staring at the Angel for too long. “It just keeps switching back on!” Amy called as she tried to use the remote to switch the Angel off again.

“Yeah, it's the Angel”, the Doctor called back.

“But it's just a recording!” Alyssa shouted not understanding how the recording of a Weeping Angel could become Weeping Angel. She even tried to destroy it just like she did with the first Angel she met but the psychic energy just seemed to dissipate when it hit the projection of the statue.

“No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel” the Doctor corrected her. “What are you doing?” he asked River who was now trying to cut through the metal door with a mini blowtorch.  

“I’m trying to cut through”, River replied “It's not even warm”.

“There is no way in. It's not physically possible”, the Doctor said, his hearts still hammering away in his chest. He couldn’t give up! There had to be some way to get into the drop module!

“Doctor, what's it going to do to us?” Amy asked fearfully as she and Alyssa continued to stare at the Angel.

“Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking”, the Doctor urged them.

“If that thing touches us, it’ll just displace us in time, right?”, Alyssa stated earning her a frightened look from Amy “it isn’t going to do anything…worse is it?”

The Doctor didn’t answer. He had no way of knowing if the Angel would do anything more than send them back to a random point in the past. Then it hit him. The book! He ran over to where he dropped the book. The Doctor picked it up and ran back to the drop module flicking though the book as he went. “Ali, Amy, not the eyes. Look at the Angel but don't look at the eyes”, the Doctor told them.

“Why?” Amy asked as she and Alyssa stared at the Angel, right where the Doctor told them not to, the eyes.

“What is it?” River asked knowing the Doctor told them not to look in the eyes of the Weeping Angel for a reason.

“’The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there’” the Doctor said reading that section in the book aloud.

“Doctor, what did you say?” Alyssa asked trying to look elsewhere on the Angel but found her gaze being drawn back to its eyes.

“Don't look at the eyes!” the Doctor shouted.

“What did you say about images?” Amy asked having not quiet heard what the Doctor had said.

“Whatever holds the image of an Angel, is an Angel”, River called.

“Ok…hold this” keeping her gaze fixed on the Angel, Amy raised the remote “One, two, three, four….”  She pressed pause on the remote just as the tape reached the blip. The projection froze before flickering off, the screen powering down as well. The door burst open as the Doctor ran in, immediately going over to Alyssa, checking her over before hugging her tightly. He felt himself calm slightly as he held her, his hearts going back to their normal rhythm.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again”, he told her.

River looked Amy over, making sure she was ok before giving the ginger a quick hug. “I froze it. There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip”, Amy explained when they stepped away “It wasn't the image of an Angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good” she smiled both in relief and proud of herself.

“It was more than good Ames. It was brilliant”, Alyssa said looking over at her as the Doctor continued to hug her.

“Very clever”, River said smiling at the young woman “So it was here?” she asked the Doctor when he finally stepped away from Alyssa, going over to the monitor and pulling out the plug “That was the Angel?”

“That was a _projection_ of the Angel”, the Doctor replied “It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant”.

Suddenly there was an explosion outside making them all jump. The Doctor ran to the door and looked out. “It’s gone positive!” a cleric said to Octavian.

“Doctor!” Octavian shouted “we’re through!”

“Okay, now it starts”, the Doctor said. He took Alyssa’s hand and led her out of the drop module. “You ok, love?” he asked when she tugged her hand out of his and rubbed her left eye.

“Yeah, just something in my eye”, Alyssa replied “think it’s an eye lash”. Unknown to either of them, Amy was rubbing her eye too.


	10. Time of the Angels part 3

One by one they all climbed down a rope ladder into the Maze of the Dead. When Alyssa reached the bottom rung, the Doctor was quick to help her down before a cleric could. “Possessive much?” she asked, getting that feeling from him.

“Of course I am, love”, the Doctor said “is that still not a problem?”

The Time Lady gave him a kiss “Nope”, Alyssa answered. The Doctor smiled and turned to Octavian.

“Did we bring a gravity globe?” he asked glancing at the man.

“Yes we did”, he replied and turned to his clerics “Grav globe” he ordered. One of the clerics took a white sphere out of a pack and handed it over to Octavian who passed it to the Doctor.  

“Where are we? What is this?” Amy questioned flashing her own torch around.

“It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a ‘Maze of the Dead’”, River replied looking around with her own torch.

“What's that?” Amy asked. The Doctor held out the Grav globe, giving Alyssa a look. She nodded and the Time Lord tossed the white orb up into the air. The red haired Time Lady gave the orb a push with her powers to allow it to hang high in the air, bathing the cave in a white light. The light allowed the group to see the vast number of statues on the various levels.

“The perfect hiding place for a Weeping Angel”, the Doctor said, answering Amy’s question.

“I guess this makes it a bit trickier”, Octavian commented taking in all the statues.

“That’s a bit of an understatement”, Alyssa muttered eyeing the statues. This was going to make her job harder to sense the Weeping Angel.

 “A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for”, Octavian continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

“A needle in a haystack”, River said.

“A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues…” the Doctor managed to say before Alyssa cut him off with a light smack to the arm.

“You’re making our companion _very_ uneasy”, she said eyeing Amy, getting a strong sense of unease from the ginger.

The Doctor glanced at Amy and could tell by the looks on her face, that his fiancé was right. “Sorry”, he said apologetically. The situation they were currently in was scary enough, the last thing he wanted to do was to make it worse. He needed to remember to think before he spoke, which if he had to be honest was easier said than done because it seemed like this version of him might be a bit of rambler, just like his previous self.

“Right” Octavian nodded, taking charge, turning to his clerics “Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection” he turned back to the Doctor “One question: How do we fight it?” he asked.

“We find it, and hope”, the Doctor replied, picking up a couple of torches and giving one to Alyssa. He then took her other hand and walked off, Amy following them.

The ginger paused when she once more felt something in her eye. She rubbed the corner of her eye with her finger and frowned when she saw grit on it. Amy then rubbed hand over her eye, sand and grit falling between her fingers. She pulled her hand away and stared at it but there was nothing there. _Must be imagining things_ she thought.

“You all right?” River asked coming to stand next to her, having noticed the woman stare at her hand.

“Yeah, I'm fine”, Amy replied “So, what's a Maze of the Dead?” she asked.

“Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds” River answered “It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls” when Amy gave her a look, she added “Okay that was fairly bad. Right, give me your arm” River took out a syringe from her pocket. Slightly puzzled as to why she needed an injection, Amy held out her arm. River pushed up the sleeve of her red hoody “This won't hurt a bit”, she said before injecting Amy with the syringe.

“Ow!” Amy cried as it did hurt.

“There, you see. I lied”, River said putting the syringe back into one of her pockets “what I’ve just injected you with is a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship”.

Amy looked at the Doctor who was currently examining a statue with his torch, Alyssa standing next to him. “So what's he like?” she asked “In the future, I mean. Because you know him in the future, don't you?” She was rather curious to know more about the Doctor and who better to tell her than River Song, the woman supposedly from the Doctor’s future.

“Well, the Doctor's…the Doctor”, River said vaguely looking at the pair ahead of them.

“Oh, well, that's _very_ helpful” Amy said sarcastically. She’d been hoping for something a little less vague from the woman “Mind if I write that down?” 

“Yes, we are”, River suddenly called out catching the pair’s attention.

“Sorry, what?” Alyssa asked turning to her, having not heard a word they’d said because unlike the Doctor, she hadn’t been listening in.

“Talking about you”, River said.

“Me?” Alyssa asked confused, it was like she’d been brought into the middle of a conversation she hadn’t even been aware of.

“Not you Lyssa, the Doctor”, River clarified.

“I wasn't listening, I'm busy”, the Doctor said not looking up from the device.

“The other way up”, River told him. They all watched the Doctor turn the device the right way up.

“Oh yeah”, he said as if he didn’t realise he’d been trying to take readings with the device the wrong way around. Alyssa shook her head at him.

“That’s what happens when you eavesdrop dear, you end up holding things upside down”, Alyssa said patting him on the shoulder.

 “You're _so_ his wife”, Amy said quietly to River. River on the other hand just gave Amy an amused smile, mainly to disguise the fact that she wanted to grimace at the thought of being the Doctor’s wife.

“Oh Amy, it would be impossible to be his wife. He already has a fiancé ”, River said.

“He does?” Amy asked ‘innocently’.

River just gave her a look, knowing that the ginger was fully aware that Alyssa was the Doctor’s fiancé AND had a thing for the Time Lord. Well, she was going to have to nip that in the bud. “Amy its pretty much impossible not to love him. However, for your own sake, you’re going to have to stop” she looked over at the Time Lords “Its hard to explain it but those two…they were meant to be. There’s no getting between them so I wouldn’t even try”. Amy looked over at the couple, jealous over their relationship.

She shouldn’t be jealous. She really shouldn’t considering she was already engaged to Rory and their relationship was going…pretty well. But still she couldn’t help feel that way. Maybe because of all those years of fantasising of being with the Doctor only to get a big slap in the face from reality when she learned that he was happily in a relationship with someone else.  

Suddenly gunfire sounded, causing all four of them to run back into the main chamber of the Maze of the Dead. One of the clerics had fired at a statue “Sorry, sorry. I thought…I thought it looked at me”, the young man said apologetically, looking clearly shaken up.

“We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?” Octavian asked the cleric.

“No, sir”, the cleric replied.

“No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor”, Octavian said.

Alyssa frowned at how Octavian reprimanded the young man. She could feel how scared the young cleric was. “What's your name?” she asked gently.

“Bob, mam”, he answered.

“Ah, that's a great name” the Doctor smiled “I love Bob”.

“It's a Sacred Name” Octavian added “We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church”.

The Doctor walked over to the pair “Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, sir”, Bob admitted looking down.

“Ah, good”, the Doctor said “Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on”. The Doctor turned back to Alyssa, Amy and River.  

“We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes” Octavian called to the other clerics before turning to Bob “You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach”.

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“Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse?” Amy asked looking around at the caverns above them as they walked “There's a whole ship up there”.

“The Aplans are very good builders Amy. No chance of collapse”, River assured her.

“I had dinner with their Chief Architect once”, the Doctor spoke up “Two heads are better than one”.

“What, you mean you helped him?” the ginger questioned.

“I think he means the Chief Architect has got two heads”, Alyssa corrected.

“That book, the very end, what did it say?” the Doctor asked River.

River pulled the book out of her pack and opened it, the Time Lords looking over her shoulder at the passage “’What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?’” she read aloud “’What if one day our dreams no longer needed us?’” _If that did happen, that would be one terrifying day_ Amy thought, shifting uneasily on the spot. “’When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us” River continued “The time of Angels’”.

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“Are we there yet?” Amy asked when they reached the fourth level “It's a hell of a climb”. Alyssa had to agree with her, she was starting to feel the ache in her legs too and she used to ice skate. Though she didn’t say a word of complaint because something was playing havoc on her abilities. She didn’t what it was but it felt like it was all around her, suffocating her.

“The Maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul”, River explained “Only two levels to go”.

“Lovely species, the Aplans” the Doctor remarked “We should visit them some time”.

“I thought they were all dead?” Amy asked with a frown.

“So is Virginia Woolf”, the Doctor pointed out “I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head”.

Alyssa suddenly stopped dead, her face suddenly draining of colour. She now knew why she felt the way she was because they were surrounded by Weeping Angels! “Love, what’s wrong?” the Doctor asked.

“Look at the statues”, she said shakily. Everyone looked at the statues, the Doctor’s eyes widening when he saw what Alyssa must’ve noticed.

“Oh…” the Doctor breathed.

“How could we have not noticed that?” River asked wondering how they’d missed something as obvious as the lack of a second head on the statues.

“Low level perception filter” the Doctor guessed “Or maybe we're thick”.

“What's wrong, sir?” Octavian asked wondering why the Time Lord along with River and Alyssa were looking so worried.

“Nobody move” the Doctor ordered trying to stay calm despite the fact that his hearts where starting to beat faster at the fact that all of them, including his fiancé was in terrible danger “Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are” the Doctor looked at Octavian “Bishop, I am truly sorry” he said apologetically “I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger”.

“What danger?” Octavian asked still not getting why they were so worried.

“The Aplans have two heads” The Doctor stated “So why don't the statues?”

With those words, everyone who hadn’t noticed before suddenly noticed the lack of a second head on all of the statues. “Everyone, over there” the Doctor nodded at the spot where there wasn’t any statues “Just move. Don't ask questions, don't speak”.

Everyone moved over to the spot he indicated while the Doctor kept his eyes trained on the statues “Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches”, he said after he’d moved backed up to join the group, not once taking his eyes off the statues.

“Sir?” Octavian questioned. It didn’t seem like the best idea to him.

“Just do it”, the Doctor said. One by one they turned off their torches, though Alyssa was a little hesitant to do so. “Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment”, the Doctor told them all.

“Are you sure about this?” Alyssa asked him.

“No”, the Doctor answered honestly. He didn’t want to turn his light off but he had to make sure. The Doctor switched his torch off for a split second and then back on again. All the statues in front of them had turned to face them.

“Oh, my God. They've moved”, Amy gasped. The Doctor ran down the passageway, his eyes darting from statue to statue. He stopped when he saw one of the statues on the floor arm outstretched. “They're Angels! All of them!” he declared.

“But they can't be”, River shook her head, she, Amy and Alyssa having followed him.

The four of them moved along the passage way and looked down at the statues they’d passed on the way up. They were no longer standing upright instead they were in crouched positions, crawling towards the travellers. “Every statue in this Maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel” the Doctor said looking at them all “They're coming after us”.

“Doctor, I’m sorry”, Alyssa said quickly “if I’d just realised what I was sensing were that they were ALL Weeping Angels…”

“Its ok Ali”, the Doctor cut in “Its not your fault”. He wasn’t expecting her to sense that all the statues were Weeping Angels. He wasn’t even expecting her to be able to pinpoint the Angel from the ship, given that it took a lot for her to sense the Vashta Nerada in the Library.

The four of them rushed back to Octavian and the other clerics. “But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear”, River insisted.

“Could they have been here already?” Amy asked looking at the statues, flashing her torch between each one.

“The Aplans. What happened? How did they die out?” the Doctor questioned turning to River.

“Nobody knows”, River answered.

“We know”, the Doctor said nodding to the statues.

“They don't look like Angels”, Octavian remarked eyeing them, noting the distinct lack of wings on the statues.

“And they're not fast” Amy added “You said they were fast. They should have had us by now”.

“Look at them. They're dying, losing their form” the Doctor said with his torch trained on one of the statues “They must have been down here for centuries, starving”.

“Hence why they look more like garden statues rather than killer Angel ones”, Alyssa added.

“And their image is their power”, the Doctor said “Power” his eyes widened in realization “Power!” 

“Doctor?” Amy asked.

“Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels” the Doctor explained. He turned to look at the statues “We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up”, he said.

“We need to get out of here fast”, River said. _Couldn’t agree more_ the Doctor thought, his mind going through ways to get them out of their current situation.

“Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please” Octavian called into his radio “Any of you, come in”.

“It's Bob, sir” Bob answered “Sorry, sir”.

“Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you?” Octavian asked “All the statues are active” he warned “I repeat, all the statues are active!”

“I know, sir” Bob said “Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir”.

Upon hearing that, the Doctor snatched Octavian’s radio from his hands “Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor”, he said speaking into it.

“I'm talking to…” Octavian began.

“Where are you now?” the Doctor asked, ignoring Octavian.

“I'm talking to my…” the bishop tried again.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up”, the Doctor snapped at him.

“I'm on my way up to you, sir” Bob informed the Time Lord through the radio “I'm homing in on your signal”

“Ah, well done, Bob” the Doctor smiled “Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob. What did the Angel do to them?” 

“Snapped their necks, sir”, Bob answered making the Doctor frown.

“That's not how the Angels kill you” he stated “They displace you in time…unless they needed the bodies for something”.

Octavian took the radio from the Doctor “Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs?” he asked the cleric “We may be able to initiate a rescue plan”. He didn’t want to believe that they had been killed by the Angel, they had to be still alive.

The Doctor snatched the radio back again “Oh, don't be an idiot!” he snapped “The Angels don't leave you alive!” the Doctor brought the radio to his mouth and spoke “Bob, keep running. But tell me, how did you escape?”

“I didn't escape, sir” Bob informed him “The Angel killed me, too”. Those words got another frown from the Doctor.

“What do you mean, the Angel killed you?” he asked.

“Snapped my neck, sir” Bob said “Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something”.

Alyssa frowned _If he was dead, how can he be talking to the Doctor?_ the Time Lady thought.

“If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?” the Doctor asked reiterating the words from Alyssa’s thought.

“You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you” Bob explained “Sorry about the confusion”, he added sounding apologetic.

“So when you say you're on your way up to us…” the Doctor began.

“It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes”, Bob confirmed.

“No way out”, the Doctor muttered.

“Then we get out through the wreckage”, Octavian stated “Go!”

The clerics ran past Octavian and the Doctor to head towards the wreckage of the Byzantium. River followed after them with Amy and Alyssa. The group stopped running when they reached an open chamber. “Well. There it is, the Byzantium”, Octavian said looking up at the underside of the ship, several feet above them.

Alyssa looked up at it “that’s quite a way up”, she remarked before she rubbed her temple from a sudden dull pain in her head.

“You ok Lyssa?” River asked.

“Yeah, slight head ache”, Alyssa replied “nothing to worry about”, she added quickly. She had worse headaches from using her powers.

fine”, Alyssa replied, the pain in her head having vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She was hoping that wasn’t the beginning of a headache. That was the last thing she needed right now.

The ginger haired man nodded and looked up at the wreck “that’s at least 30 feet up”, he estimated. 

“How do we get up there?” River asked.

Octavian turned to his remaining clerics “Check all these exits. I want them all secure”, he ordered and the men moved off to do so.

“Where’s the Doctor and Amy?” Alyssa asked worriedly, not seeing either of them.

“I’ll go look for them”, River said “wait here”. Alyssa nodded and watched the curly haired woman walk away before wincing again. She rubbed her head but when she moved her hand away, it grey and stone like. Alyssa closed her eyes and when she opened them again, her hand was back to its normal colour. She turned it over and run her fingers over her palm.

 _Just imagined it_ she thought. Though why she’d imagine her hand as stone, she had no idea. Her gaze flickered up to the Grav globe as it started to flicker. “That’s not good”, she muttered. Given her first run in with the Weeping Angel, she knew that they had the power to mess with the lights.

One of the cleric’s hurried back to the group. “The statues are advancing along all corridors” he informed them “And, sir, my torch keeps flickering”.

“They all do”, Octavian said seriously “Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming”. A moment later the Doctor, Amy and River joined them.

“You guys ok?” Alyssa asked the Doctor and Amy.

“Yeah we’re fine”, Amy replied not wanting to tell the red head about how she thought her hand was stone as she didn’t want to worry her. She had no idea that the Time Lady had already had that happen to her.

“For the moment at least”, the Doctor added “the Angels are coming and they're draining the power for themselves”.

“Which means we won't be able to see them”, Octavian concluded.

 “So we can’t stay here”, the Doctor said flashing his torch around for any possible way out.

“Two more incoming”, Octavian said noticing two Angels appear at the entrance to one of the tunnels.

“Any suggestions?” River asked the Doctor.

“The statues are advancing on all sides” Octavian said looking up at the Byzantium “We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium”.

“There's no way up, no way back, no way out” River concluded having had a quick assessment of their situation and their surroundings. She looked at the Doctor “No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea”.

“There's always a way out”, the Doctor said, his voice echoing around the chamber “There's always a way out”, he repeated. All the lights flickered off for a split second and when they came back on, more Angels had appeared.

“Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?” Angel Bob’s voice called through the radio.

“Hello, Angels. What's your problem?” the Doctor said holding the radio near his mouth.

“Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir”, Angel Bob said apologetically.

“Why are you telling me this?” the Doctor asked.

“There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end”, Angel Bob said.

“Which is?” the Doctor asked.

“I died in fear”, Angel Bob said.

“I'm sorry?”

“You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down”, Angel Bob said.

“What are they doing?” Amy asked.

“They’re trying to make him angry”, River replied equally quietly.

“Which is not a good idea, trust me”, Alyssa added “there is a reason he is sometimes called the Oncoming Storm”. River hummed in agreement.

“I'm sorry, sir” Angel Bob said still apologetic “The Angels were very keen for you to know that”.

“Well then, the Angels have made their third mistake because I'm not going to let that pass” the Doctor said, his voice even trying to hide how angry he actually was from everyone else “I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier”.

“But you're trapped, sir, and about to die”

“Yeah, I'm trapped” the Doctor said looking around, making sure that his plan was going to work. It _had_ to work. There was no way he was going to let his fiancé and the rest of them be killed by Weeping Angels. “And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got two great big mistakes in it. Two great big, whopping mistakes!”

“What mistakes, sir?” Angel Bob asked. Ignoring him, the Doctor turned to Amy.

“Trust me?” he asked her.

“Yeah”, she replied.

He turned to River “Trust me?”

“Always”, River said with a smile, seeing that he had a plan.

The Doctor turned to Alyssa “I trust you Doctor”, she said confidently also with a smile on her face. The Doctor returned her smile before turning his attention to Octavian and the other clerics.

“You lot, trust me?” the Time Lord asked.

“We have faith, sir”, Octavian answered.

“Octavian, give me your gun” the man hands it over “I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do…” the Doctor jumped on the spot “jump!”

“Jump where?” Octavian asked.

“Just jump, high as you can” the Doctor replied “Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal”

“What signal?”

“You won't miss it”, the Doctor said aiming the gun at the Byzantium.

“Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned two mistakes we made”, Angel Bob spoke up.

“Oh, big mistakes. Huge” the Doctor said into the radio “Firstly, you put my fiancé in danger and I WON’T have that, not now, not ever. Secondly, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap”

“And what would that be, sir?” Angel Bob asked.

“Me!”

The Doctor fires at the Grav globe and it explodes.

**To be continued….**


	11. Flesh and Stone part 1

The Doctor was the first one to recover from their jump. “Up! Look up!” he ordered as he stood up, going over to where Alyssa sat and helped her to her feet.

“Are you ok?” the Doctor asked her.

Alyssa nodded “yeah, fine”, she replied.

“You ok Amy?” River asked helping her up.

“What happened?” the ginger questioned.

“We jumped”, River answered.

“Jumped where?” Amy asked.

“Up, Up, Look up!” the Doctor repeated. Amy did so but still couldn’t understand. Alyssa on the other hand looked up and immediately understood where they were.

“We’re on the hull of the ship”, she stated “how is that possible?”

The Doctor crouched down, sonicing a circular hatch nearby “The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on?”

The Time Lady thought for a second before she answered with “The gravity!”

“Yep” the Doctor said standing up “One good jump” he jumped on the spot “and up we fell. Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are”, he explained.

“Doctor, the statues. They look more like Angels now”, Octavian reported staring at the statues below.

“They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves”, the Doctor explained as he continued to sonic the hatch “Within an hour, they'll be an army!”

The hatch opened up to reveal the inside of the ship. Suddenly one of the lights surrounding the hatch, exploded with a bang. “They're taking out the lights”, the Doctor said “Look at them, Look at the Angels. Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you!” and with that he dropped into the hole. Alyssa sat down by the hatch and started to lower herself into the hole. The Doctor reached up, put his hands on her waist and helped her down the rest of the way.

“Doctor! Ali!” Amy called down to them.

“It's just a corridor”, the Doctor told her “The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!”

He walked over to a control panel, sonicing it as the others joined himself and Alyssa. “The Angels. Presumably they can jump up too?” Octavian asked. The hatch closed the moment they all entered the ship, the lights flickering.

“They're here, now. In the dark, we're finished”, the Doctor stated feeling his hearts start to beat faster at the fact that the angels were getting closer to them, to Alyssa. A bulkhead further along the corridor starts to close. “Run!” he shouted, grabbing Alyssa’s hand and running for it, the others hot on their heels. Unfortunately they didn’t make it, the bulkhead closed trapping them.

“This whole place is a death trap!” Octavian shouted.

“No, it's a time bomb”, the Doctor corrected him trying to stay calm “Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end” he rambled “Nobody panic”. As he said that, there was a banging on the hatch which told them that the Angels were trying to break in. The Doctor looked around at everyone and saw apart from himself, Alyssa was the only one who looked worried. “Oh, just me and Ali then. What's through here?” he asked gesturing to the bulkhead with his sonic.

 “Secondary flight deck”, River replied.

“Ok” Amy nodded “so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?” she stated as River started to work on the panel near the bulkhead, trying to bypass the power “So what if the gravity fails?” Amy asked.

“I've thought about that”, the Doctor admitted.

“And?” Amy pressed.

“And we'll all plunge to our deaths”, he replied earning him a smack in the arm from his fiancé “ow! What was that for?” he asked rubbing his arm.

“For making her even more scared”, Alyssa replied “Empath? Remember?” she pointed to herself.

“Sorry”, the Doctor said to both her and Amy. He turned to the door “The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them. It's impossible”.

“How impossible?” River asked as she continued to work on the panel.

“2 minutes”, the Doctor replied.

The hum of the engines powered down and the hatch they entered through opened up. “The hull is breached and the power's failing”, Octavian stated. The lights went out for a brief moment and when they came back on, an Angel’s arm appeared at the entrance.

“Sir, incoming!” Marco called.

“Doctor! Lights”, Amy said reaching out and grasping Alyssa’s hand as the lights go out again. The Doctor used his sonic on the panel that River had been working on. The lights come on briefly to reveal an Angel making its way inside. The lights go out again for the third time. When they came on again, they were much brighter than before. They also revealed that there were now four Angels in the corridor with them.

“Clerics, keep watching them”, Octavian ordered.

“And don't look at their eyes. Anywhere else. Not the eyes”, the Doctor warned “Now, I’ve isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now”.

“Good work, Doctor”, Octavian praised.

“Yes. Good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good you like it so far…”

“So far?” Amy asked eye brows raised.

“Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control”, the Doctor said.

“Good, Fine, Do it”, Octavian ordered. He didn’t care what the Doctor had to do to get the bulkhead door open as long as he did it.

“Including the lights”, the Doctor added “All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights”.

“How long for?” Alyssa asked.

“Fraction of a second”, the Doctor replied fiddling with the sonic in his hands “Maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer”.

“Maybe?” Octavian asked, incredulous.

“I'm guessing”, the Doctor shot back “We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship, there isn't a manual for this!” He knew it wasn’t a good idea to get worked up but he couldn’t help it. His fiancé was on a ship with four Weeping Angels and only the four clerics, himself and River standing between her and them. The Time Lady rubbed his arm, feeling how worried he was. She gave him a small smile when the Doctor looked at her. The Time Lord returned the smile.

“But Doctor, we lost the torches”, Amy pointed out “We'll be in total darkness”.

“No other way”, the Doctor sighed and turned to Octavian “Bishop?”

“Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?” Octavian asked River.

“I absolutely trust him”, River replied.

“He's not some kind of madman, then?” Octavian continued.

“I absolutely trust him”, River repeated.

“Excuse me”, the Doctor said and went back to the door.

Octavian stepped closer to River “I'm taking your word, because you're the only one who can manage this guy”, he said quietly “But that only works so long as he doesn't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell him. Understood?”

“Understood”, River nodded.

Octavian gave her a brief nod and turned back to the Doctor “Ok, Doctor. We've got your back”, he said.

“Bless you Bishop”, the Doctor said as he took a bundle of wires from Alyssa.

“Combat distance, ten feet”, Octavian ordered “As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol. We don't have bullets to waste”.

“Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise four turns”, the Doctor instructed moving the ginger over to the door.

“10”, Amy nodded.

“No, 4 turns”, the Doctor corrected her.

“Yeah, 4. I heard you”, Amy repeated.

“Love, help her”, the Doctor said, turning to her. Alyssa nodded. He moved over to the panel by the door that he’d opened up to gain access to the circuits to the bulkhead. “Ready!” the Doctor called and placed the sonic into the circuit.

“On my count, then”, Octavian swallowed “God be with us all. Three…two…one” the lights went out “Fire!”

The clerics opened fire at the Weeping Angels. With each burst of fire, little flashes of light appeared showing the Angels moving closer and closer to the group. “Turn!” the Doctor shouted.

Alyssa and Amy struggled to get the door open. River stepped up next to them and gave them a hand. “Doctor, its opening. It's working!” Amy said as the bulkhead started to open. The three females squeeze through the opening.

“Fall back!” Octavian ordered to his clerics. The clerics hurry through followed by Octavian and the Doctor. The bulkhead clangs shut behind the Time Lord. They ran down a similar corridor until they reached a door. Using his sonic, the Doctor opened the door and held it open so that everyone could get through.

“Doctor, quickly”, River called.

“Doctor!” Alyssa shouted. The Doctor stops sonicing the panel and darts inside just as the bulkhead closed. The secondary flight deck was a mess, exposed wires all over the console. The Doctor and River ran over to the controls.

“Doctor!” Amy shouted as the door’s wheel started to spin. Octavian turned to the door and placed a device on it. 

“What are you doing?” Alyssa asked as Octavian activated the device, stopping the wheel from turning.

“Magnetized the door”, Octavian replied “Nothing could turn that wheel now”.

“Yeah?” the Doctor asked looking up from the controls he was working at. The wheel turned though slower than before.

“Dear God!” Octavian gasped.

“Ah, now you're getting it!” the Doctor said “You've bought us time though. That's good. I am good with time”.  

“Doctor!” Alyssa called as a wheel on another door to the right of the main one started to turn. She then winced from another dull ache from her head. She rubbed her temples and when she brought her hands away, they were stone! She closed her eyes tightly and opened them, relaxing when she saw that her hands were back to normal. “Ali, are you alright?” Amy asked.

“I think so”, Alyssa said, unsure. Why was she getting this pain in her head? And why on earth was she imagining her hands as stone? Was it just her body’s way of saying that she needed more sleep? Though that didn’t make much sense as A: she was now a Time Lady and didn’t require as much sleep anymore and B: she already slept prior to this trip. So what the heck was going on?! 

“Seal that door. Seal it now”, Octavian ordered and Macro complied.

“We're surrounded”, River stated as the wheel on the third door started to spin. It too was sealed with a device.

“Doctor, how long have we got?” Octavian asked.

“5 minutes, max”, the Doctor replied.

“9”, Amy said.

“We need another way out of here”, River stated.

“There isn't one”, Octavian said.

“Yeah, there is. Course there is”, the Doctor countered “This is a galaxy class ship. Goes for years between planet falls. So…” he snapped his fingers “what do they need?”

“Of course”, River breathed, realising what he was getting at. The Doctor snapped his fingers again.

“Of course what? What do they need?” Amy asked not understanding. She wasn’t the only one, Alyssa as a little confused too.

“Can we get in there?” Octavian questioned.

The Doctor turned to the back wall “Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow”, he explained. He pressed against various points on the wall saying “This whole wall should slide up” then he noticed the clamps “There's clamps. Release the clamps!” the Doctor flashed his sonic over the clamps.

“What's through there?” Amy asked “What do they need?”

“They need to breathe”, River told her. The Doctor smiled as the wall slowly rose upwards. Alyssa and Amy stare, awestruck at the lush green forest that was revealed behind the wall.

“But that's….that's a….” Amy tried to say but couldn’t get the words out she was that amazed.

 Alyssa opened her mouth to say something when she heard the TARDIS’s voice speak very quietly.

**_“Sweetie…”_ **

“Sexy?” Alyssa said aloud earning her looks from everyone. The Time Lady walked away from them all, keeping her back to the group so that they couldn’t see her talking. “How can I hear you so far from well… _you_?” she asked in a hushed tone.

 ** _“We became one, remember? This means that we have a far stronger bond than before”,_** the TARDIS told her **_“don’t act alarmed but you have an Angel in your mind”_** the red head eye’s widened **_“I’m working on walling it off. Stay strong sweetie”._**

“Love, are you ok?” the Doctor asked wondering if he should be worried. Alyssa turned to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, Alyssa lied “just a little surprised to hear from Sexy that’s all. First time hearing it so far away from her. Anyway you were showing us the forest?” she said, quickly changing the subject.

“Yes…I was”, the Doctor said, getting the feeling his fiancé had just lied to him but he wasn’t going to press the matter. They walked back to the others. “As River was saying, this is an oxygen factory AND if we're lucky, an escape route”, the Doctor picking up where they left off before Alyssa wandered off.

Amy smiled “8”, she agreed.

“Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there”, the Doctor said to Octavian.

“On it!” Octavian stepped into the forest “Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels”.

“But trees, on a space ship?” Amy asked. _Not the weirdest thing we found on a spaceship_ Alyssa thought remembering ‘Arthur’ from the ship with all the Time Windows.

“Oh, more than trees. Way better than trees. You two are going to love this” the Doctor stepped into the forest “Tree _borgs_ ….” he opened a section of peat moss to reveal circuitry “Trees plus technology. Branches become cables become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship” the Doctor turned and walked back over to them “A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze. Have I impressed you two yet?”

“I’m definitely impressed, dear”, she replied “Treeborgs…” she laughed “wonders never cease”.

Amy smiled too “7”, she chuckled.

“Why did you say that?” Alyssa asked Amy.

“Say what?” Amy asked confused.

“7”, the Doctor said, studying the ginger’s face.

“No. I didn't”, Amy insisted.

“Yes. You did”, River spoke up.

“Doctor”, Octavian called “there's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck”.

“Good. That's where we need to go”, the Doctor said.

“Plotting a safe path now”, Octavian said.

“Quick as you like”, the Doctor called back, still studying Amy’s face.

The radio suddenly crackled to life “Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir”.

“Ah. There you are, Angel Bob”, the Doctor said going over to white chair and plopped down into it “How's life?” he asked “Sorry, bad subject”, he added.

“The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve”, Angel Bob said.

“Achieve?” the Doctor asked “We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here”, he remarked “Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?”

“The Angels are feasting, sir”, Angel Bob said “Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world. And all the stars and worlds beyond”.

“Well, we've got comfy chairs”, the Doctor retorted “Did I mention?”

“We have no need of comfy chairs”, Angel Bob said.

The Doctor grinned “I made him say comfy chairs!”

Alyssa smiled,  shaking her head. He was such a child sometimes! But she would never want him to change. “6”, Amy laughed.

“Okay, Bob, enough chat. Here's what I want to know. What have you done to Amy” the Doctor demanded jumping to his feet.

“There is something in Amy’s eye”, Angel Bob replied.

“What's is it?” the Doctor questioned.

“We are”, Angel Bob said.

“What's he talking about?” Amy asked not understanding what was going on “Ali’s got a bad headache all of a sudden and I’m 5” everyone stares at her, including Alyssa. _Why didn’t Sexy tell me that Amy had an Angel in her eye too?_ She thought. It was possible that the TARDIS didn’t know, considering that she didn’t have a connection to the ginger.

“I mean, 5”, Amy repeated. Then she realised what she’d just said “Fine! I'm fine”.

“You're counting”, River said slowly.

“Counting?” Amy repeated.

“You're counting down from ten”, the Doctor said “You have been for a couple of minutes”.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“I don't know”, the Doctor replied.

“Well, counting down to what?” Amy demanded.

“I don't know”, the Doctor admitted.

“We shall take her. We shall take all of you”, Angel Bob said “We shall have dominion over all time and space”.

The Doctor raised the radio to his mouth “Get a life, Bob”, he snapped “Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much”.

“With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand”

A screeching sound echoed around the room forcing them all to cover their ears “Dear God, what is it?” River asked.

“They're back”, Octavian stated.

“It's hard to put in your terms, Doctor Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing”, Angel Bob told them.

“Laughing?” the Doctor asked with a frown.

“Because you haven't noticed yet, sir. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed”, Angel Bob said.

The Doctor turned to see the crack, his eyes widening.

“That's…that's, that's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl”, Amy breathed staring at it as it grew wider causing the room to shake.

“Yes”, the Doctor agreed. The room shook more violently, everyone having to grab hold of something to stay on their feet.

“Ok, enough. We're moving out”, Octavian said deciding they’d stayed there long enough.

“Agreed”, River said “Doctor?”

“Yeah, fine”, the Doctor said but he didn’t move. Instead he got out his sonic from his pocket and started using it on the crack.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Alyssa asked.

“Right with you”, the Doctor said not looking away from the crack nor did he stop scanning it with the sonic.

“We're not leaving without you!” Alyssa said, unwilling to go.

“Yes, you are” the Doctor glanced back at Alyssa, River and Amy “Bishop?”

“Miss Pond, Miss Palmer, Doctor Song, now!” Octavian shouted from the forest.

River grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her away. Alysa followed them, though not without casting a look at her fiancé.


	12. Flesh and Stone part 2

River eyed both Alyssa and Amy as they walked through the forest, neither one of them looked good. “Lyssa!” she cried as the Time Lady tripped over her own feet, falling to her knees.

“I’m fine”, Alyssa gritted out. It was as if the Angel was suddenly stepping up its attacks in her mind, hence why she felt really bad all of a sudden. She just hoped that the TARDIS would be able to seal the Angel away soon.

“You don’t look fine”, River said worriedly “you’ve got an Angel in your eye too, haven’t you?” Alyssa just looked at her and the curly haired woman knew that she was right. “Why didn’t you say anything?” River demanded, helping her to her feet.

“I didn’t want the Doctor to worry any more than he already was”, Alyssa managed to say “look, just take care of Amy. I’ll be fine”.

“Ly –“ River started when Alyssa cut in with

“I’ll be fine River. I have the TARDIS trying to keep the Angel at bay, Amy doesn’t have that luxury. Focus on her, please”

River reluctantly nodded and said “ok, I will”. She wasn’t happy about it but she knew that the Time Lady wasn’t going to be easily swayed by her decision. Alyssa always put others before herself. They continued to walk with the others, River sticking close to Amy but also kept an eye on Alyssa as well.

“Amy, what's wrong?” River asked as the ginger started to sway on the spot.

“4”, she said quietly. River took hold of Amy and made her sit down on a mossy tree stump. “Med scanner, now!” she ordered. Alyssa sat down beside the stump, gently stroking Amy’s hair as the ginger curled up on it. River strapped a med scanner around Amy’s arm.

“Doctor Song we can't stay here. We've got to keep moving”, Octavian said.

“Amy is in no shape to move”, Alyssa told him, ignoring how rotten she was feeling at the moment.

“She’s right”, River agreed “We also need to wait for Doctor anyway”.

“Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralise the Angels…” Octavian began.

“Father Octavian, when the Doctor's in the room, your one and only mission is to keep him and his fiancé alive long enough to get everyone else home”, River cut in “And trust me, it's not easy. Even with help. Now, if he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself. And if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And…Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?”

“Oh, yeah”, the Doctor replied with a smile though it quickly faded seeing the state Amy was in. He also noted that his future wife wasn’t looking so good either.

River stood up and faced him “I hate you”, she said.

“You don't”, the Doctor countered jumping off a log and coming over to Alyssa’s side “Bishop, the Angels are in the forest”, he warned Octavian.

“We need visual contact on every line of approach”, Octavian called to his clerics.

“How did you get past them?” River asked him.

“I found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe”, the Doctor replied.

“What was it dear?” Alyssa questioned.

“The end of the universe”, the Doctor deadpanned “Let's have a look, then”. He checked Amy’s med scanner.

“So, what's wrong with me?” Amy asked.

“Nothing. You're fine”, River lied not wanting to worry her, any more than she already was.

“Everything. You're dying”, the Doctor said.

“Doctor!” River and Alyssa shouted.

“Yes, you're right. If we lie to her, she’ll get all better”, the Doctor shot back “Right, what's the matter with them? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Doesn’t mean anything”.

“Actually, it does”, Alyssa spoke up “we looked the Angel in the eyes, now its in our minds”.

“Sir! Angel incoming!” Marco suddenly shouted as an Angel appeared behind a tree.

“And here!” Phillip called spotting another one.

“Keep visual contact! Do not let it move!” Octavian ordered. The Doctor just stared at his love, horrified at the fact she too had an Angel in her mind.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked, just about managing to form the words.

“I didn’t want to you worry”, Alyssa replied quietly.

“3” Amy whimpered “it's coming. I can feel it…I'm going to die!” She never thought this would be how it ends for her. She thought she was going to be traveling with the Doctor for many years to come.

“No you’re not”, Alyssa said, the TARDIS having just told her that it was possible to take the Angel out of Amy’s mind, pulling it into her own. “River, Doctor, sit her up, carefully”, she instructed.

“Why?” River asked “what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to save her life”, Alyssa replied. The pair sat Amy upright and watched as Alyssa placed her fingers on the young woman’s temples, resting her forehead against hers. They stayed like that for a minute before Alyssa fell backward, eyes closed.

“Ali!” the Doctor cried dropping down beside her “love open your eyes”, he urged.

“I can’t”, Alyssa said, her voice sounding strained “I’ve got both Angel’s in my mind now”.

“She’s right. Amy has normalised”, River said noting that ginger’s med scanner had gone from red to green. She took the scanner off of Amy’s arm.

“Sir?” Phillip called “Two more incoming”.

“Three more over here”, Pedro said.

“Is she going to be ok?” Amy asked as the Doctor helped Alyssa sit up, the Time Lady clutching onto him.

“She’ll be fine as soon as we stop the Angels”, the Doctor replied.

“Doctor, we're too exposed here”, Octavian warned “We have to move on”.

“We're too exposed everywhere”, the Doctor corrected “and my fiancé can’t move right now. Anyway, that's not the plan”.

“There's a plan?” River asked raising her eyebrows.

“I don't know yet. I haven't finished talking”, the Doctor said and stood up but not before he gave Alyssa’s hands a reassuring squeeze “Right! Father, you and your Clerics, you're going to stay here, look after Amy and Ali. If anything happens to Amy, I'll hold every single one of you personally responsible”, the Doctor said “and if anything happens to my Ali… the Angels will be the least of your worries compared to me” the clerics actually looked rather scared by the threat in his voice. He then added and a slightly lighter tone “River, you and me, we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is… he licked his finger and held it up “A quarter of a mile straight ahead, and from there we're going to stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure my fiancé”.

“How?” River asked.

“I'll do a thing”, the Doctor replied. Despite her now throbbing head from 2 Angels rattling around in there, Alyssa managed to crack a small smile at his answer.

“What thing?” River asked.

“I don't know. It's a thing in progress”, the Doctor shrugged “Respect the thing. Moving out!”

“Doctor, I'm coming with you”, Octavian said “My Clerics will look after Miss Pond and Miss Palmer. These are my best men. They'd lay down their lives in their protection”.

“I don't need you”, the Doctor said slightly on the rude side.

“I don't care. Where Doctor Song goes, I go”, Octavian said firmly.

The Doctor looked between River and Octavian “What? You two engaged or something?” he asked.

“Yes, in a manner of speaking”, Octavian replied “Marco, you're in charge till I get back”.

“Sir!” Marco nodded as Octavian headed off with River.

The Doctor turned his attention back to Amy and Alyssa. He went over to his fiancé first, knelt down in front of her and took her hand “I'll be back for you soon as I can”, he promised, pressing a light kiss to her lips.

“I know you will”, Alyssa said. She had complete faith in him. The Doctor moved over to Amy and made the same promise.

“You always say that”, Amy said.

“I always come back”, the Doctor countered standing up “Good luck, everyone. Behave. Do NOT let Ali open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. River, going to need your computer!” and with that he left with the curly haired woman and Octavian.

Amy moved over to the Time Lady and gently squeezed her arm to let her know she was there. “It’s going to be ok Ali. The Doctor will come through”, she assured her.

Alyssa smiled, feeling the woman’s confidence “Amy, I’ve been with the Doctor for some time now. If there’s one thing I know for certain, he always comes through no matter what”, she said. She frowned when she vaguely sensed the Doctor coming back. “Doctor? Did you forget something?” she called in no particular direction.

Amy watched the Doctor emerge from the forest and approached them. “Wow, you’re good Ali”, she remarked “how did you know it was him?”

“Because she could sense me”, the Doctor replied “even with two Angel’s in her mind”. He reached out and gently caressed Alyssa’s cheek, the Time Lady leaning into her touch. The Doctor then turned to Amy, taking hold of her hands “Amy, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important”, he said.

“But you don't always tell me the truth”, Amy pointed out.

“If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me”, the Doctor countered.

“Doctor, the crack in my wall. How can it be here?” Amy asked.

“I don't know yet, but I'm working it out”, the Doctor replied “Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?”

“What did you tell me?” Amy asked.

The Doctor rested his forehead against hers “no, no…that's not the point. You have to remember”, he said before he kissed her on the head.

“Remember what?” Amy asked but she didn’t get an answer as the Doctor had moved back to Alyssa.

“And you need to remember that I will always love you, my brilliant Ali”, he said before he kissed her for the second time. Amy averted her graze trying but failing to push away any feelings of jealousy she had. The Time Lady had just saved her life for crying out loud! She should at the very least feel grateful for that. Amy was broken from her thoughts as the Doctor walked away.

The ginger just sat there with the Time Lady in silence for several moments until Alyssa frowned. “What’s wrong? Is it the Angels in your mind?” Amy asked concerned.

Alyssa shook her head “No, they’ve gone quiet. I think Sexy had managed to seal the little buggers off so they can’t hurt me anymore”, she said.

“That’s good…right?” Amy asked carefully.

“Yeah, its good. Allows me to properly focus on our surroundings”, Alyssa said “for example, I know that there is a fair number of Weeping Angels near where we are”. Amy tensed, her eyes flickering from tree to tree, seeing that she was right.

Marco watched as one of the Angels reached into a tree and pulled out the wires, causing the lights to flicker. “What’s happening to the lights?” Amy asked.

“It's the trees. ma'am. The trees are going out”, Marco said with a serious tone in his voice. Taking advantage of the very brief moments that the clearing was in darkness, the Angels to advance on the group.

“Angels advancing, sir”, Philip said.

“Over here as well”, Pedro called.

“Weapons primed”, Marco ordered “Combat distance five feet” he and the other clerics readied their weapons “Wait for it!”

Amy grabbed hold of Alyssa’s hand tightly “It’s going to be ok Amy”, the Time Lady assured her “the Angel’s wont get us”.

“Keep your position”, Marco continued “and Ali keep your eyes shut!”

“How can you be so calm?” Amy questioned.

“Because I can beat the Angels. I’ve done it once before”, Alyssa told her.

“What’s happening?” Alyssa asked as Amy’s hand tightened around hers.

Suddenly a bright light floods through the forest. Amy and the clerics glance over at it, squinting slightly. “The ship's not on fire is it?” Marco asked.

Pedro shook his head “It can't be. The compressors would have taken care of it”, he replied.

Pedro looked away and was surprised to see that the Angels had gone. “Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?”

The other clerics looked around and saw he was right. “This side's clear too, sir”, Philip reported.

“The Angels have gone?” Amy asked. She couldn’t easily see because of the bright light.

“There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running”, Marco said glancing at a device in his hand.

“Running from what?” Alyssa asked. She could sense them fleeing but what would make them run away like that?

“There’s this weird light coming through the trees”, Amy told her. Alyssa frowned in confusion. How could a ‘weird light’ scare the Angels? Then she remembered the Doctor telling them all about how the Angels he ran into were scared by the crack they’d all seen on the wall in the Secondary Flight Deck. Was it possible that a second crack had appeared?

Marco turned to Crispin and Phillip. “I need you two to get a closer look at that”, he ordered. The two clerics disappeared into the trees, heading towards the light.

“Amy does the light look a particular shape?” Alyssa asked, needing to know more in order to prove whether she was right. Amy stood up and walked forward a couple of steps, squinting at the light. She then gasped, seeing that the light looked exactly like the w shaped crack on the Secondary Flight Deck. “Amy, talk to me”, Alyssa urged.

“Ali…it’s the same crack. Its following me”, she breathed “How can it be following me?”

Alyssa struggled to her feet and shuffled her way over to the frightened ginger. It should’ve been impossible with her eyes shut but thanks to her psychic abilities, she can sense where people are roughly standing. It also helped that Amy was giving off some pretty strong emotions too. “It’s ok Amy”, Alyssa said gently “it’s just a coincidence”. Amy cast a skeptical look at the Time Lady which of course Alyssa couldn’t see as she had her eyes closed.

“Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?” Pedro asked.

“Go for it”, Marco replied “Don't get too close”, he warned.

“Hang on, what about the other two?” Amy asked glancing at Marco “why not just wait ‘til they’re back?”

“What other two?” Marco asked confused.

“The ones you sent before”, Alyssa replied.

“I didn't send anyone before”, Marco said.

“You did, I heard you. Crispin and Phillip”, Amy spoke up.

Marco frowned “Crispin and who?”

“Those are the names of the clerics you sent to investigate the ‘light’”, Alyssa said.

“There never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission”, Marco insisted.

“No, I heard you”, Alyssa argued.

“And I saw you send them off”,  Amy put in “Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip, and now you can't even remember them”. “Pedro?” Marco asked.

“Yeah, before you sent Pedro”, Amy reminded him.

“Who's Pedro?”

Alyssa frowned this time. She could remember them. Amy could remember them. So why didn’t Marco remember those guys?

“Something's happening. Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him”, Amy said also realising that something was terribly wrong.

“There never was a Pedro”, Marco said “There's only ever been the 3 of us here”.

Amy shook her head “No, there were 6 of us. Why can't you remember?” he asked getting really concerned for this man’s apparent amnesia when it came to the others.

Marco didn’t appear to be too bothered by it. “Listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is”, he said “Don't worry, I won't get too close”.

“No you can’t!” Amy exclaimed.

“She’s right, you can’t”, Alyssa agreed.

“I’ll be fine”, Marco assured them “here. Spare communicator” he held it out to Amy “I’ll stay in touch the whole time”.

“You won't, because if you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you”, Amy countered.

“There weren't any others”, Marco said.

“There won't be any YOU if you go back there”,  Amy argued.

“2 minutes, I promise”, Marco continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Please, just listen to me!” Amy called as the man started to walk away. Marco just ignored her.

“Some people are just stupid”, Alyssa remarked. Amy brought the radio to her mouth.

“Marco? Are you there?” she asked.

“I'm here. I'm fine. Quite close to it now”, Marco replied.

“You better come back Marco, now”, Alyssa ordered.

“It's weird looking at it. It feels really….” Marco broke off and the 2 females frowned at the

“Really what?” Amy asked.

Nothing.

“Hello Marco? Are you there?” Alyssa asked.

Still nothing.

“Damn it Macro talk to us!” the Time Lady demanded.

Then the Doctor’s voice came over the radio “love is that you?” he asked.

“Yeah it’s me”, Alyssa replied “Amy’s here too”, she added patting her on the shoulder.

“Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?” the Doctor questioned.

“We’re still in the clearing”, Amy replied “and the Clerics have gone. There was a light and they walked into it. Doctor, they didn't even remember each other”.

“No, they wouldn't”, the Doctor said.

“What is that light?” Amy and Alyssa heard River ask.

“Time running out”, the Doctor replied “Amy, Ali, I’m so sorry, I made a mistake. I should never have left either of you there”.

“Its ok Doctor”, Alyssa said, hearing the guilt in his voice “just tell us what you want us to do”.

“You 2 need to come to us”, The Doctor instructed “the Primary Flight Deck, the other end of the forest. I’ll sonic the communicator so when it sounds like my screwdriver, it means you’re going the right way. But you 2 have to start moving now. There's Time Energy spilling out of that crack, and you have to stay ahead of it”.

“Primary Flight Deck. Stay ahead of the Time Energy”, Alyssa repeated “gotcha”. Amy took Alyssa’s hand and held it tightly while she had the communicator in the other.

“Keep your eyes shut”, the ginger said.

“Don’t worry Amy, I will”, Alyssa said. They started to walk.


	13. Flesh and Stone part 3

Even though Amy was leading Alyssa through the forest, they still stumbled several times. “It’s going to be ok, Ali. We’re going to be fine”, the ginger said for the third time.

Alyssa smiled “I know we will be Amy. Just focus on the Angels”, she said.

“Angels, right”, Amy muttered eyeing the statues as she carefully manoeuvred her way through them. Suddenly, the Time Lady let out a yelp as she tripped over a partially buried root pulling down Amy. The Scottish woman quickly got Alyssa back on her feet but it was too late. The Angels had taken notice of them.

“Doctor we’re in a bit a trouble”, Amy reported looking from Angel to Angel trying to stop their advance but she was only one person “We could do with some help, right now”. Amy clutched onto the Time Lady tightly as the Angels closed in, arms stretched towards them. Alyssa could sense how close they were but before she could do anything to stop them, there is a bright flash of light and the duo vanished.

~Primary Flight Deck~

Almost immediately the Doctor pulled Alyssa away from Amy and gave her a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Ali. I shouldn’t have left you there”, he said apologetically feeling his hearts calm down now that she was in his arms.

“It’s not your fault”, Alyssa said. She didn’t blame him at all. How was he to know that a crack was going to open up in the forest? And that when the clerics went to investigate, they would never come back?  They were all together now and that’s what mattered.

“See? Told you I could get it working”, River spoke up. The Doctor looked over to see the curly haired woman smiling at him with her arm around Amy.

“Yes you did”, the Doctor agreed. While he may not like the woman for what she part she played in Alyssa’s suffering on the Valiant, he couldn’t have saved his fiancé or companion without her help. So for that, he was thankful that she was here.

An alarm suddenly blares throughout the room. “What's that?” River asked.

“The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means…the shield's going to release!” the Doctor exclaimed. He passed Alyssa off to River as the bulk head rose up to reveal a line of Weeping Angels. One of which had a radio.

The Doctor stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the Angel with the radio “Angel Bob, I presume”, he said. Here was the Angel that had caused Alyssa all that pain. His hearts had started to race at that thought.

“The Time Field is coming”, Angel Bob said “It will destroy our reality”.

“Yeah, and look at you all, running away” the Doctor said glaring at Angel Bob “What can I do for you?” 

“There is a rupture in time”, Angel Bob replied “The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close, and they will be saved”.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why should I?” the Doctor asked “I’ve got a fiancé who needs me”.

“Your friends will also be saved. Your fiancé as well”, Angel Bob pointed out.

“Well…there is that”, the Doctor agreed.

“I've travelled in time”, River spoke up “I'm a complicated space time event too. Throw me in”.

The Doctor glanced at her “Oh, be serious! Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you, and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip”, he said.

“Doctor, I can't let you do this”, River said.

“No, seriously, get a grip”, the Doctor repeated trying to convey what he wanted her to do.

“You're not going to die here!” River exclaimed.

“No, I mean it. River, Ali, Amy, get a grip”, the Doctor said.

“Oh, you genius”, she breathed. River moved Alyssa over to a panel and put her hands on a bar. “Hold on tight and don’t let go for anything”, she said firmly. Amy joined Alyssa at the panel and gripped hold of the bar tightly too.

“Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now”, Angel Bob said.

“Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship. Every last bit of it”, the Doctor explained “And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels….” River took hold of another bar “Night, night”, the Doctor said causally turning to grip a bar himself as the gravity started to fail.

The moment it completely failed, the deck turns to its side. Everyone held on for dear life as the Angels are sucked into the crack. There is a burst of light and the crack closes.

~Beach~

Amy and Alyssa sat side by side on the beach, both wrapped in a blanket. “Ah… bruised everywhere”, the ginger groaned.

“Me too”, Alyssa agreed.

“Same”, the Doctor put in.

“I still don’t understand how the Angels from your mind just vanished”, Amy said to Alyssa. The Time Lady had tried to explain it on the Byzantium after the ginger freaked out about Alyssa opening her eyes. Butt of course Amy didn’t understand.

“The Angels all fell into the Time Field. The 2 Angels in her memory never existed”, the Doctor explained.

“Then why do we remember it at all? Those guys on the ship didn't remember each other”, Amy said.

“You're a time traveller now. It changes the way you see the universe, forever”, the Doctor explained with a smile “Good, isn't it?” he asked.

“And the crack, is that gone too?” Amy asked carefully.

“Yeah, for now”, the Doctor answered “But the explosion that caused it is still happening...somewhere out there, somewhere in time”. He looked out at the ocean before walking over to River.  

“You, me, handcuffs. Must it always end this way?” River asked teasingly holding up her encased wrists.

“What now?” the Doctor asked.

“The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see”, River said.

“Octavian said you killed a man”, the Doctor said.

“Yes, I did”, River confirmed.

“A good man”

“A _very_ good man”, River corrected “The best man I've ever known”.

“Who?” the Doctor asked.

“It's a long story Doctor”, River replied “It can't be told, it has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well, except for this one. You'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens”.

“The Pandorica”, the Doctor laughed “That's a fairy tale”.

River smirked “Doctor, aren't we all? I'll see you there”, she said.

“I look forward to it”, the Doctor said.

“I remember it well”, River said as Amy and Alyssa approached them, still wrapped in their blankets.

“See you, Amy. Lyssa”, River said. Then her handcuffs start beeping “Oh! I think that's my ride”.

“Can I trust you River Song?” the Doctor asked quickly. 

“If you like, but where's the fun in that?” River laughed and is teleported away in a swirl of sand.

~TARDIS~

“I want to go home”, Amy declared the moment the trio had entered the TARDIS.

“Okay”, the Doctor said. He was disappointed but understood. She had nearly died after all. He didn’t blame her for wanting to go home.

“No, not like that”, Amy said quickly “I just, I just want to show you something. You're running from River. I'm running too”.

~Amy's bedroom~

As soon as the TARDIS appeared in Amy’s room, Alyssa told the Doctor that she wanted to get a cup of tea and something for her head. While the Angels were no longer in her mind, they still left a rather annoying headache behind. One she really wanted to get rid of.

“Blimey”, the Doctor commented looking at Amy’s wedding dress as they both sat on the edge of her bed.

“I know. This is the same night we left, yeah?” Amy asked.

“We've been gone five minutes”, the Doctor replied.

Amy sat down on her bed, reached over to the bedside table and picked up a ring box. She opened it and showed it to the Doctor. “I'm getting married in the morning”, she said.

“Why did you leave it here?” the Doctor asked.

“Why did I leave my engagement ring when I ran away with a strange man the night before my wedding?”

“Yeah”, the Doctor said.

“Hmm. You really are an alien, aren't you?” Amy remarked.

“Who's the lucky fellow?” the Doctor asked.

“You met him, Rory Williams”, Amy replied.

“Oh! Nurse Boy”, the Doctor nodded.

“So…do you comfort a lot of people on the night before their wedding?” Amy asked.

The Doctor frowned “Why would you need comforting?”

“I nearly died today Doctor. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life”, Amy said “and it made me think”.

“Well, yes, natural”, the Doctor said “I think sometimes. Well, lots of times”.

“About what I want”, Amy snuck a glance at him “About who I want. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah…no”, the Doctor said.

“About _who_ I want”, Amy repeated emphasising the word ‘who’.

“Oh right, yeah….” The Doctor said slowly. He then shook his head “No, still not getting it”, he said.

“Doctor. In a word. In one very simple word even you can understand…” Amy climbed on top of him.

The Doctor quickly pushed her away and clambered over the footrail of her bed “You're getting married in the morning!” he exclaimed.

“Well, the morning's a long time away”, Amy said getting up from the bed, walking around to him “What are we going to do about that?” she pinned him against the TARDIS and slowly pulled his braces down. The Doctor pulled them back up.

“Amy, listen to me. I have a fiancé whom I love with all my hearts”, he said “I’m not going to do anything to ruin my relationship with her. I _won’t_ ”.

“Oh, Doctor. What she doesn’t know wont hurt her”, Amy leant in almost kissing him when the Doctor pushed her away.

“I said, I won’t Amelia”, he said almost angrily and with that he went into the TARDIS. Amy stood there for a moment a bit shocked by his reaction before she followed him into the blue box. The Time Lord stood at the console, fiddling with the controls.

“Oh, typical bloke. Straight to fixing his motor”, she remarked trying to lighten the mood.

“That’s the thing, Amy. I am not a typical bloke”, the Doctor said, casting a look up the stairs, hoping that Alyssa would walk in that very moment.

“Sorry did I do something wrong? ‘Cause I’m getting kind of mixed signals here”, Amy said gaining his attention.

“Mixed signals?” the Doctor asked brows raised “how?!”

“Oh come on!” Amy said, exasperated “you turn up in the middle of the night, you get me out of bed in my nightie, which you then don’t let me change out of for ages, and take me for a spin in your time machine”, she vented “but no, no! you’re right. No mixed signals. That is just A signal. Like a great big bat signal in the sky. Get your coat love, the Doctor is in”.

"No, no, no, no! Its…not like that”, the Doctor insisted “that’s not what I’m like”.

“Then what are you like?” Amy questioned moving toward him.

“I don’t know”, the Doctor replied quickly, moving around the console to keep his distance from his companion “Gandalf. Like a space Gandalf”. Alyssa paused at the top of the stairs having heard what he’d just said. _Wonder what I missed_ she thought, quietly going down the stairs as to not attract attention from the pair. “Like the little green one in Star Wars…” the Doctor made a rather good impression of a lightsaber.

“Nice impression”, Alyssa spoke up making the Doctor turn around, a relived look on his face.

“Ali!” he greeted happily quickly joining her on the stairs and gave her a kiss on the cheek “you feeling better?”

“Much”, Alyssa said a bit confused by the Doctor’s sudden change in behaviour, his emotions were all over the place too “So…what did I miss?”

“Nothing”, Amy said quickly.

Alyssa looked at the Doctor “she…tried to kiss me”, he admitted.

“What?” the Time Lady said, her gaze turning to the ginger “You, tried to kiss my fiancé” she repeated walking down the rest of the stairs ”why?”

“I was scared, ok? I needed some comfort”, Amy said.

“You want comfort, you get a hug or reassuring words. You never ever try to kiss an engaged person, especially when you’re engaged too!” Alyssa glanced at the Doctor “maybe we should tell Rory about this”, she suggested.

“Sounds like a good idea”, the Doctor agreed.


	14. Tahiti part 1

**AN: right guys and girls this next ‘episode’ is going to be a crossover with Ten and Melanie ( _Music Of My Soul_ ). If it goes well then I’ll be opening up the option to do another crossover between my DW stories and/or other fandoms. **

**Also this will be posted on _Music Of My Soul_ as well, though it’ll be different in terms of how they got to their destination; points of view and thought processed. Hope you guys enjoy. **

**Oh, just one more thing. this is in place of the _Vampires of Venice_. Now onto the chapter! **

Rory watched nervously as a large cake was being wheeled in to the tune of _The Stripper_. “Out! Out!” his friends all chanted. Suddenly the Doctor’s head popped out of the top of the cake making the chanters fall silent, somewhat in shock. Rory just shook his head in disbelief. He should’ve known something like this was going to happen. He’d hoped for a nice, normal Stag Do but that obviously went out of the window the second the Doctor came into his and Amy’s lives.

The Doctor stood up and turned around, a big grin on his face when he spotted the dirty blonde. “Rory!” he cheered “that’s a relief. I thought I’d burst out of the wrong cake again”.

“That’s because _you_ insisted on piloting the first time”, Alyssa said walking in with Lucy, the girl shivering even though she was wearing the Time Lady’s jumper. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was wearing nothing but a bikini underneath as she was the stripper that was supposed to be in the cake. “And if I hadn’t this time around, you might’ve ended up in another Hen Party cake”.

The Doctor internally winced. He never knew how grabby drunk women could be until 5 minutes ago when he accidently ended up at Cassidy’s Hen Do. He had been extremely lucky that Alyssa was able to get him out of their clutches. “Anyway”, he said swiftly changing the subject “we need to talk about your fiancé, Rory. She tried to kiss me” the Stag Do guests gasped “Don’t worry, I didn’t let her”, he quickly added “I’ve got a smart…beautiful fiancé all of my own whom I love very much” the Doctor cast a loving glance at Alyssa.

“Nice save”, she commented. She then passed Lucy off to the nearest person “look after her, she’s diabetic”, she said before going over to Rory “that’s why we’re here Rory. We wouldn’t have crashed your Stag Do otherwise. Now we’re going to take you and Amy on a nice little trip to get all this sorts out”, Alyssa explained. She took his arm and escorted him out of the pub. The Doctor scrambled out of the cake and hurried after them.

\---------

Alyssa sat in the harness seat underneath the TARDIS console, fiddling with some wires trying to undo what the Doctor had done. It wasn’t easy even with Sexy mentally giving her instructions. The Doctor watched her for a moment before looking up to Amy and Rory who were watching them through the glass floor of the console room.

“The life out there can dazzle and amaze us”, the Time Lord said “I mean, it blinds you to the things that are most important…” his gazed turned to his fiancé “or it can open your eyes and show you that the most important thing you’ll ever want or need…” he moved over to Alyssa “is standing right in front of you”. The Time Lady paused in her work and glanced up at him with a smile. The Doctor bent his head down and kissed her.

Amy looked away from the display of affection. She knew that what she did was wrong. she shouldn’t have tried to kiss him. But she’d been so scared…she just wanted comfort from the person who’d been in her life in one way or another since she was a little girl. And when the Doctor had rejected her because of his love for Alyssa it made her realise that River was right. There was no getting in between them. The only thing she could do now is to forget whatever feelings she had for the Time Lord and focus on mending her relationship with Rory.

“So that’s why we’re going to take you on a little trip”, Alyssa spoke up gaining the ginger’s attention “to hopefully help you realise this. And we’ve got the perfect destination in mind, haven’t we?”

“That we do”, the Doctor agreed. He gave her another quick peck before he headed up the steps “it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” he remarked to the dirty blonde “tiny box, huge room inside. Whats that about?” the Time Lord asked rhetorically “let me explain”.

“Its another dimension”, Rory stated.

“It’s basically another dimen…what?” the Doctor said realising what he’d just said.

“After Prisoner Zero, I’ve been reading up on all the latest scientific theories; FTL travel, parallel universes”, Rory explained.

“Good for you”, Alyssa called up, hopping off the harness seat as she’d just finished the repairs.

“I like the bit when someone says ‘its bigger on the inside!’” the Doctor all but whined.

“Its true, he does”, Alyssa agreed walking quickly the steps “I mean he loved it when I said those words” she sighed “man that seems like a lifetime ago”, she added as an afterthought “but I don’t regret any of it, not for a single second”.

The Doctor softly smiled at her, winding an arm around her waist “me neither”, he agreed pressing a kiss to her temple.

“Right, we better get up to the wardrobe to look for something suitable for the beach”, Alyssa said.

“That’s where your taking us?” Amy asked “the beach?”

“But its not just any beach. It’s a beach in Tahiti”, the Doctor told her. That had both Amy and Rory excited. The ginger grabbed her fiancé’s hand and pulled him out of the console room eagerly. The Time Lords followed after them.

\-----

As soon as they got to the wardrobe, Alyssa took Amy off to the ladies clothes while the Doctor herded Rory toward the men’s clothing. “Ali…I’m sorry”, Amy spoke up after a few minutes of them walking in silence “I shouldn’t have tried to kiss him”.

“No, you shouldn’t have”, Alyssa said “but I forgive you”. Amy stopped and looked at the Time Lady in surprise.

“Y-you’re forgiving me? Just like that?” she questioned.

“Yep. The upside of being an empath Amy is that I can sense when you’re being sincere. So I know that you truly are sorry for what you’d tried to do”, Alyssa said.

“So, if you weren’t an empath would you have forgiven me this quickly?” Amy asked.

“Doesn’t matter what I would have done if I didn’t have this gift. What matters is that I have forgiven you”, Alyssa told her “now, what kind of thing do you like wearing at the beach?”

“Mostly swimwear and maybe a dress to cover up”, Amy answered a bit surprised by the shift in topic but she wasn’t going to question it. As Alyssa had said, what matters is that was she forgiven and she should count herself lucky that the Time Lady was so quick to forgive her. Any other woman would have never spoken to her again.

“Ok”, Alyssa said “Swimwear please Sexy”, she added to the ship. The two females watched as a few racks of swimwear complete with coverups appeared in front of them.

“She never ceases to amaze me”, Amy murmured.

“Same here”, Alyssa agreed “shall we?” she gestured to the clothes.

“We shall”, Amy said going over to the clothing. She and Alyssa rifled through the items looking for something to wear. Amy pulled out a green bikini and showed it to the Time Lady “wear this”, she suggested “it’ll render the Doctor speechless”.

Alyssa barely supressed a smile as she looked over the two-suit in her hands “it’ll do more than that”, she admitted. Amy’s green eyes widened at her implication.

“No way. You…and him?”

“What did you think that we’d be engaged and not done…that?” Alyssa asked her.

“Well…its just…the Doctor is so childish sometimes…and the bow tie…” Amy shook her head.

“Trust me Amy. Underneath all that is someone who can rock my world”, Alyssa said with smile. The ginger let out a little girlish squeal.

“Sorry”, she said apologetically “I’ve never had anyone talk to me about that stuff before”, Amy confessed.

Alyssa raised her eyebrows “never?” she questioned surprised.

“Nope”, Amy said “what about you?”

“I had this friend who I used to share some stuff with”, Alyssa said “but you’re the first person I’ve told about me and the Doctor’s nocturnal activities. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell the Doctor I’ve said anything”.

“It’ll just stay between you and me”, Amy promised, a tiny bit thrilled that Alyssa had chosen to share something fairly intimate with her. She hoped that the Time Lady would continue to share and confide in her. “So…about the swim suit?” she asked holding it up.

“Why not”, Alyssa said taking it from her grasp “I’m gonna go change. Will you be ok here?”

“Yeah of course”, Amy assured her. Alyssa nodded and headed off for the changing rooms. On her way to one of the curtained off areas, she plucked a white wrap around dress from a rail and snagged a pair of matching sandals. The Time Lady went into the changing room and swapped her clothes for the dress and swimwear. She then swept her hair up into a mess bun, leaving a few tendrils to frame her face. Alyssa checked to make sure that her engagement ring was still firmly on her finger which it was.

When she stepped out of the changing room, she heard a low whistle. Alyssa turned around and saw the Doctor standing there in shorts and a shirt, checking her out. “Like what you see?” she asked. The Time Lord stepped forward and placed his hands on her hips.

“Very much so”, he answered “you know…Rory is going to be a while” his eyes flickered over to the changing room then back at the Time Lady. Alyssa knew exactly what he was implying.

“Amy isn’t going to be done for a bit either”, she told him. The Doctor smiled, his hands sliding off her hips to take one of hands and led her into the changing room.

\------------

Amy and Rory clung onto the console as the Doctor and Alyssa worked in tandem to pilot the TARDIS to their destination. It wasn’t long before the ship touched down. The Time Lords went over to the doors, the Doctor’s hands pausing on the door handles as he glanced at his fiancé and companions. “Behold! Tahiti!” he declared pulling the doors open with a flourish. What the four of them saw was something they’d not expected. Another TARDIS was parked less than a meter away with the Doctor’s previous regeneration standing in the doorway gaping at them. At his side was brunette in a blue summer dress. “What!” the Doctor exclaimed in shock. How was he seeing another version on himself in Tahiti?! He’d never been here before! “Love, tell me I’m just imagining this?” the Doctor asked, turning to Alyssa.

“I’m afraid you’re not imagining it”, she said apologetically “I can both see AND sense him. He is previous you”.

“What?!” the 10th Doctor repeated.


	15. Tahiti part 2

“H-how? This is impossible!” the Doctor exclaimed, stepping out of the TARDIS, eyes fixed on his previous self.

“Not really Doctor”, Alyssa spoke up, stepping after him “you have met yourself before, remember?”

She of course was referring to the time when he met his 5th self just before the Titanic plowed into the police box. “This is different”, the Doctor insisted “he’s me but not me”.

“That makes zero sense”, Amy said with a confused look on her face “is he you or not?”

“He _is_ me but not ME”, the Doctor repeated.

“Parallel”, Rory realised, kind of understanding what the Time Lord was trying to say “he’s a parallel you, right?”

“Yes Rory, he is”, the Doctor confirmed. The brunette standing next to Ten, glanced at the Time Lord.

“I said a parallel universe didn’t I?” she said, a tiny bit smug.

“Ellie, travel to parallel universes are impossible”, Ten told her.

“But we did it before”, the young woman reminded him.

“Yes we did. However, that was simply an accident and I made sure that the crack we fell through was sealed”, Ten said “I highly doubt that’s happened again”.

“How can you be so sure?” the Doctor spoke up, making them look at him.

“I just am”, Ten insisted. Alyssa could sense how uneasy he seemed to be at the prospect of being in a parallel universe. She could only guess that he'd had a bad experience in one before and didn't want a repeat

“But ho-“ the Doctor started when the Time Lady  put a hand over his mouth.

“You shouldn’t push it dear”, she said “he’s uneasy enough as it is”. She removed her hand and turned to the pair “I think proper introductions are in order. I’m Alyssa Palmer and this is my fiancé, the Doctor. That’s Amy Pond and her fiancé Rory Williams” she gestured to their companions “say hi you two”.

Amy and Rory moved forward to stand at Alyssa and The Doctor’s side. “Hi”, Amy said politely.

“Nice to meet you both”, Rory added. Ten's companion stepped up, holding out a hand.

“I’m Melanie Hannigan but most people just call me Ellie. And of course you know the Doctor, my Bonded”.

Alyssa shook her hand “pleasure to meet you”, she said politely “we were gonna head to the beach, if you’d like to join us”, she offered.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea”, Ten replied “no offense to you lot, but I think it's best if Ellie and I head off”.

“None taken”, Alyssa said.

“Well, have a safe journey”, the Doctor quickly said taking Alyssa’s hand “come along Rory, Pond. The beach awaits!” and with that he strode off, pulling his fiancé with him.

“Enjoy your travels!” Alyssa managed to shout at the other Doctor and his Bonded before she got out of earshot. The Time Lady was about to remark to her future husband about how he could've been a little nicer when she sensed something underfoot. "Doctor, stop", she ordered. The Doctor did so and she crouched down, touching the sand.

"What's wrong?" The Time Lord asked.

"I sense something", Alyssa replied.

"You can sense things underground?" Rory questioned, surprised.

"Yes, I can", the Time Lady said. She stayed there for a moment until her eyes widened "oh no", she breathed. Before anyone had the chance to ask her what was wrong, she'd bolted back the way they came. The Doctor, Amy and Rory ran after her.

As they rounded the corner, they noticed a large sand tentacle dragging screaming Melanie along the ground, the other Doctor clinging onto her, desperately trying to pull her out of its grasp.

“Let go of her!” Alyssa shouted, flinging at hands out and the sandy limb dissipated from the psychic blast, leaving the Doctor and Melanie a heap on the sand.

“Are you alright?” the Time Lord asked his Bonded, frantically checking her over for injuries.

“Yeah, I think so”, Melanie replied. Ten helped her to her feet and she glanced down at the sand “What the hell was that thing?” she asked.

“I have no idea”, he replied. He looked at Alyssa, who by now had lowered her hands. “Thank you Ali”, he said, extremely grateful that she showed up when she did.

“You’re welcome”, Alyssa said.

“Has the danger passed, love?” the Doctor asked his fiancé. The Time Lady knelt down and lightly placed a palm on the ground. She closed her eyes, her face twisting into one of concentration. The red head opened them after a moment and said

“Yes. Whatever that thing was, its gone for now”.

“So what do we do now?” Amy asked.

“We leave”, Ten replied.

“But what about that tentacally thing?” the ginger pressed “it still out there”.

“If you four want to go look for it, be my guest”, Ten said winding his arm around Melanie, holding her close “but I’m taking my Bonded out of here. Not gonna risk it coming after her again”.

“If I was in your position, I wouldn’t ask you to do that either”, the Doctor said, completely understanding where his parallel counterpart was coming from. If it had been Alyssa that it had gone after, he wouldn’t hesitate to take her out of harms way.

“How about we escort you back to the TARDIS?” Alyssa offered “just in case it comes back”.

“That’s a good idea”, Melanie agreed. The Time Lady was able to get rid of it once, she could do it again. The group walked back to where the two ship’s were parked. But as soon as they got there, several tentacles burst out of the sand!

“Sexy!” Alyssa shouted watching helplessly as the two police boxes were yanked beneath the sand the by limbs made of the same substance.

 _“The females are next”_ an ominous sounding voice hissed from beneath their feet. Before anybody could do anything even more of those octopus like limbs shot through the sand and shoved the two Doctors and Rory away from the three females. Then a cyclone of sand whipped around Alyssa, Amy and Melanie, effectively trapping them.

Both the Doctors and Rory tried to get close but they couldn’t. The wind was too strong. From inside the cyclone, the Time Lady tried to use her powers to create a gap so that they could escape but she was only able to make small ones and they kept disappearing as the sand was swirling around the trio too fast.

“Ali get us out of here!” Amy shouted.

“I’m trying!” Alyssa shouted back. Suddenly Melanie screamed making them both spin around. The brunette was being pulled into the sand! Both Amy and Alyssa grabbed hold of her arms to try and pull her out only to find that their feet was slowly sinking into the sand too. The trio struggled but to no avail.

By the time the cyclone had vanished, all three of the females had disappeared. “Amy!” Rory exclaimed as Ten rubbed his chest, the horrible emptiness he’d felt mere seconds before it had gone. “Where the hell are they?” the dirty blonde demanded “Doctor, where did they go?”

“Best guess. They’ve been taken into the ground with our ships”, the Doctor said seriously. Whatever that thing was had just made the worst mistake it could ever make in its entire existence. Taking his Alyssa from him was a big no-no and he knew that both Rory and the other Doctor was thinking the same way. That creature was going to get no mercy from him now.


	16. Tahiti part 3

Out of the three females, it was the Time Lady who woke first. And the first thing she discovered was that she was tied down to an altar...again. "You've got to be kidding me", Alyssa complained, tugging the ropes that bound her wrists. _At least there isn't a crazy knife wielding soothsayer this time_ she mentally added as she concentrated on the ropes. The red head grinned as they stretched to the point of snapping, freeing her wrists.

 

She quickly united her ankles and hopped off the altar. It was at this point that she noticed Melanie and Amy were present too, tied down just like she had been. Though unlike herself, they weren't awake. Easy to rectify.

 

Alyssa went over to Amy first and placed her fingertips on her temples. She closed her eyes and mentally reached out to the ginger, trying to nudge her awake through her mind. It worked as a moment later, Amy stirred. "You ok?" Alyssa asked telekinetically freeing her friend from the ropes.

"I think so", Amy said, sitting up and rubbing her wrists "where the heck are we?"

"No idea", Alyssa said moving over to Melanie "And I don't care to find out either. I just want to get you and Ellie out of here as quickly as possible". She repeated the action that she'd done on Amy but she got a very different reaction from Melanie. The brunette freaked out.

The Time Lady quickly released her and Melanie latched herself onto Alyssa, trembling with fear. "It's alright", the red head said gently "you're safe now".

"My dear, that is where you are very wrong", a rather faux sweet voice spoke up. Alyssa spun around to see what appeared to a blonde haired lady wearing a Greek style dress of all things. Immediately, Alyssa pulled Amy behind her. "You are not safe at all", the woman continued, taking a step further into the room.

"Is that a threat?" Alyssa asked, feeling a surge of protectiveness rise within her for the two humans she was standing in front of.

"It's merely a statement of fact", the blonde answered.

"Regardless, I don't care for people making threats against my friends", Alyssa shot back " now either step aside or I'll forcibly move you".

Instead of moving, the woman laughed "oh Alyssa…" a flicker of confusion appeared on the Time Lady's face "You couldn't move me if you tried. You powers are no match for me". Before Alyssa could do anything, the woman raised a hand, lifting the Time Lady into the air. Alyssa cried out as she was flung through the air, hitting the wall hard.

“Ali!” Amy and Melanie exclaimed in unison. They rushed to help her, only to be tossed back onto the altars, the ropes wrapping themselves tightly around their wrists and ankles.

The woman walked over to Alyssa and crouched down. She touched the Time Lady’s face, the red head jerking her head away.

“You and I are going to have so much fun”, the woman smirked before she seemed to disintegrate before Alyssa’s eyes and sank into her skin. Alyssa’s body jerked several times before her eyes rolled back into her head.

\------------

On the beach, the pair of Time Lords and one distraught human was searching for three females. Well, the Doctors were busy scanning the sand with their sonics while Rory watched. “Do you think they’re still alive?” he asked.

“Of course they are! We just have to get to them”, the Doctor replied pressing the tip of the sonic into the sand “come on open up”, he urged under his breath. Ten was just as eager for the ground to open up. He wanted his Bonded back for the emptiness in his chest was killing him. He hated feeling it before and they’d chosen to split up. This was much worse as Melanie had been taken from him.

\----------

The Time Lady gasped, sitting bolt upright. She was back in the maze. It the centre to be specific where the Triwizard cup was sitting. “This is an interesting place”, the blonde woman remarked making Alyssa quickly get to her feet.

“Get out”, she ordered.

“I’m sorry?” the woman asked ‘innocently’.

“Get out of my head”, Alyssa repeated.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that…Alyssa”, the woman said.

"You called me by my name before. How the hell do you know it?" The Time Lady demanded.

“I heard you say it”, the woman answered “and now that I’m inside…I know all about you" The blonde smiled, eyeing her appreciatively “you’re the perfect host for me despite it being a little crowded".

“That’ll be because I’m currently using it”, Alyssa told her, completely missing the glance the blonde had made at her stomach.

“Not for much longer”, the woman smirked.

The Time Lady took a step toward the woman “I don’t know who the hell you think you are…” she started.

“My name is Moira”, the woman supplied.

“I don’t care if you’re the bloody queen of England”, Alyssa shot back “this is my body and you can’t have it” she stepped toward Moira.

“She’s right”, a familiar voice piped up and in a swirl of dirt, Jenny appeared and moved to stand in front of Alyssa  “you want to take over my mother, you’ll have to go through me”.

“Me too”, Donna agreed stepping next to Jenny.

“Same here”, Steve said. Alyssa watched as the people she cared about appeared one by one. Both the Doctors were included too!

“H-how?” Moira stammered staring at them all. She should’ve been possessing Alyssa by now! Not being confronted by the Time Lady’s loved ones.

“The mind is a funny thing”, Alyssa said moving out from behind the large group “so full of surprises. And you just stepped into my mind without even considering what might be inside” the Time Lady shook her head “a very costly mistake”.

Moira glared at her. She will take ownership of Alyssa’s body! With that thought in mind she flung her arms out. Sand tentacles appeared, shoving everyone aside. Alyssa rolled over to see all her loved ones vanish, leaving her alone with Moira.

“Your body is mine!” the woman roared, rushing at the Time Lady.

Alyssa threw out a hand, throwing the woman away. She surged to her feet and darted over to the Triwizard cup. She should’ve been running away, trying to lose Moira in the maze but for some in explicable reason, she was drawn to the trophy instead.

When she grabbed it, a warmth flooded through her, making her gasp. It seemed to fill her with an overwhelming sense of strength. The Time Lady felt like she could very easily beat Moira. The red head turned to face the woman who so desperately wanted to possess her, the gold flecks in her eyes glowing slightly. She watched Moira get to her feet.

“We may be in your head…but you cannot beat me!” the woman shouted throwing many more sand tentacles at the Time Lady. Alyssa didn’t even bat an eye as the flew toward her. She just simply held out a hand and they disintegrated.

Moira growled and started for her only to her stopped by an unseen force. Alyssa calmly walked toward her “I’m going to say this only once. Get the hell out of my head”, she ordered, her eyes now glowing a brilliant gold. With an utterly terrified look on her face, Moira vanished.

\----------

Amy and Melanie watched as Moira burst out of Alyssa, stumbling to the floor completely scared. A far cry from earlier when she was threatening them. And they could see why when the Time Lady rose to her feet. She appeared to have an aura of power surrounding her. Plus not to mention that her eyes were glowing gold.

 

With a simple wave of her hand, Alyssa freed both Melanie and Amy again. She then walked toward Moira, who quickly scrambled backward. “My friends and I are going to leave now”, the Time Lady stated “Don’t try to stop us”, she warned. Alyssa turned to the two human females “Lets go”, she said. The pair nodded in agreement and they hastily left the room.

 

Moira sat there for several moments, still very much in shock about what had just happened. But as soon as the shock wore off, her face twisted into one of fury. She opened her mouth and let out an inhuman scream.

Down one of the corridors, the Time Lady and two humans heard the noise and they stopped dead, looking back the way they’d came “I think someone is seriously ticked off”, Melanie stated.

 

“Then let’s get out of here before the banshee goes on the warpath”, Amy said.

 

“Agreed”, Alyssa said. They started walking again, only managing several paces when the corridor starts to shake. “RUN!” the Time Lady shouted when a wave of sand suddenly came racing toward them. The trio sprinted as fast as they could away from it but it was no use, they were swept off their feet. The Time Lady and two humans screamed as the sand carried them down the corridor, through various twists and turns.

 

“Oh my god!” Amy exclaimed as the sand in front of them seemed to disappear. That only meant one thing, there was a sheer drop. And they were out to go over it!

 

The Time Lady’s eyes turned gold as she grabbed both Amy and Melanie, holding them tightly. The trio suddenly stopped moving as if an invisible force had planted them firmly to the floor. The two humans risked moving their heads from Alyssa’s shoulder and gaped when they saw the sand rushing around and over them… and yet not a single grain was touching them. Amy looked to Alyssa, opening her mouth to ask her what was happening, only to stare at her open mouthed.

 

The Time Lady’s eyes were glowing a brilliant gold and even the streaks in her hair were glowing too. “Is this normal?” Melanie shouted over the roar of the sand.

 

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen this before!” Amy yelled back. They watched as the sand eventually stopped rushing past them. As soon as this happened, Alyssa’s eyes turned back to normal as did her hair.

 

“Are you two alright?” the Time Lady asked looking at the pair.

 

“Yeah…but what was that?” Melanie questioned. When the red head gave her confused look, she elaborated “the glowing eyes…the hair…the way we just stopped and the sand moved around us as if we were in a bubble”.

 

“Oh…that”, Alyssa said “I can’t take the credit for it. It’s the TARDIS’ doing. And in any other situation I’d love to explain it to you but we’re still in danger”. She stood up, pulling the two humans with her.

 

“So where do we go now?” Amy asked looking around, noting several doorways in the corridor which she hadn’t noticed before due to being rushed past by the sand “do we try one of those?”

 

“Seems a good a plan as any”, Alyssa agreed. They started toward one of the doorways when the Time Lady’s head snapped over to another on across that corridor. “They’re here”, she breathed.

 

“Who’s here?” Melanie questioned.  

 

“The TARDISes”, Alyssa replied “I can feel them. Come on!” and with that she darted into the corridor.

 

“Ali!” Amy called, rushing after her, Melanie close behind. They practically bumped into her when she suddenly stopped.

 

“You two are a sight for sore eyes”, the Time Lady remarked happily. Amy and Melanie stepped around her to see both blue police boxes sitting there.  

 

“How are we going to get them out of here?” Melanie asked “I can’t pilot the TARDIS. Can either of you?”

 

Amy shook her head “I can’t but Ali can”, the ginger answered.

 

“I won’t be able to do two at once”, Alyssa told them “that’s imposs….” She trailed off when she heard the TARDIS speak.

 

**_There is a way. You’ll need Melanie’s key and a little time vortex._ **

“Scratch that. It _is_ possible”, Alyssa amended “but I’ll need your key”. She held out her hand for it and Melanie paced it in her palm. The second it touched her skin, the metal object turned gold. “Touch that against the console and the TARDIS will take you back to where she first landed”, the Time Lady explained, holding the key out. Melanie took it, albeit a little hesitantly “It’ll work, I promise”, Alyssa added, sensing her apprehension “and we’ll be right behind you”.

 

The brunette nodded “I’ll see you on the beach”, she said and entered the TARDIS. Alyssa and Amy watched it start up a moment later.

 

The Time Lady turned to the ginger “shall we?” she asked, gesturing toward their box.

 

“I’m more than ready to leave this place”, Amy replied. They walked toward the box, its door swinging open, the TARDIS ready to receive her daughter and the Girl Who Waited.

 

“You will not escape me!” Moira suddenly shrieked. Alyssa and Amy whirled around to see her standing there, utterly livid.

 

“Amy inside now!” the Time Lady ordered. Amy ran the remaining distance, entering the TARDIS. “Get her out of here Sexy!” Alyssa said to the TARDIS before she engaged the furious Moira.

 

\---------------

Up on the beach the three males heard the most amazing of sounds, the TARDIS’ materialization noise. And there were two of them! The Doctor’s raced across the sand, leaving poor Rory scrambling to catch up. They found the ships appear exactly where they’d first landed. Melanie stepped out of one making the converse wearing Time Lord rush over to her, enveloping her in a big hug.

 

The other Doctor and Rory eyed the other one, anxious to see their fiancé’s. However, Amy was the only one who exited the box and she didn’t look happy. “Amy… where’s Ali?” the Doctor asked.

 

“She stayed behind to deal with some psychotic blonde chick that was trying to possess her or something”, Amy explained.

 

“What?!” the Doctor exclaimed. They all watched him storm over to his TARDIS but he didn’t even get to enter it when the ground suddenly shook rather violently. The group stumbled around, struggling to keep their footing on the unstable ground. The sand then split open and a moment later a hand appeared. The Doctor’s eyes widened when he saw the ring on one of the fingers. It was his Alyssa!

 

He rushed over to the large crack, reached down and pulled the Time Lady out. A split second later, the sand closed up. “Is it over?” Melanie asked tentatively asked Alyssa leant heavily against her fiancé, the pair of them both sitting down on the sand.

 

“Yes, Ellie. Its over”, Alyssa replied, closing her eyes. She was exhausted.


	17. A pleasant shock

 

Alyssa lay on the bed in the med bay and stayed as still as possible while the Doctor scanned her. He wanted to make sure that Moira hadn’t done anything to harm her while attempting to take possession of her body. “Whats the verdict?” she asked sitting up as the Doctor checked through the results.

“Everything seems fine so far”, the Doctor answered.

“That’s good”, Alyssa remarked. The Time Lord read one particular result and he froze. Could this be…? He glanced up at the Time Lady. “What’s wrong?” she asked, getting up, sensing the shock from him.

“Nothing’s wrong”, the Doctor replied.

“Then why are you shocked?” Alyssa questioned, moving around to read the screen. Her eyes widened when she found the answer “Oh my god… she breathed “is this real?”

The Doctor nodded “yes, it is”, he confirmed.

“I’m pregnant”, Alyssa stated, in awe.

“Yes, you are”, The Time Lord said.

The red head laughed in delight “I’m pregnant!” she repeated, flinging her arms around his neck. The Doctor dropped the tablet onto the floor before wrapping his arms around her waist, lifting her up and spinning her around.

“Yes you are!” he said happily. To say he was overjoyed was an understatement. The Doctor set her down and gave her a loving kiss “I love you”, he declared.

“I love you too”, Alyssa said. The Doctor knelt down and kissed her flat stomach.

“Daddy loves you”, he said quietly earning him a smile from Alyssa “I cannot wait to teach you the wonders of the universe”. He carefully hugged her middle as it was now carrying something incredibly precious to him. “You’re going to be a brilliant mum”, he said.

“And you’ll be a fantastic dad”, Alyssa countered, running her fingers through his hair. Dad _…_ the Doctor smiled. He liked the sound of that. Yes, he’d been a father before and of course he technically was one now with Jenny. Though he never felt the same joy as he does right at this moment. Probably because his previous family was created through an arranged marriage and Jenny wasn’t exactly born the conventional way. But this baby…he or she was the product of his and Alyssa’s love for each other.

The Doctor looked up at Alyssa when he felt her sway. Her delight of the news that she was going to be a mum was gone, replaced with her earlier exhaustion. He stood up “Lets get you to bed”, he said. Instead of leading her out, the Doctor scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room.

When he reached their bedroom, he helped her get into her pj’s and changed into his own. He wasn’t tired but he wasn’t exactly going to leave her alone. They slid under the covers, Alyssa laying on her side. The Doctor also laid on his side, taking a protective stance over her, hand on her stomach.

It was several hours later when Alyssa woke. She could feel the Doctor against her back, his arm over her. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Alyssa shifted under his arm so she was now facing him "Much better", she replied.

"Good", the Doctor said, pleased to hear it.

"I still can't believe we're going to be parents", Alyssa said, an excited tone in her voice.

"Well, you better start believing it, love", the Doctor said "cos in several months time we'll have a little one running about".

Alyssa smiled at the thought of a mini Doctor running about the TARDIS. Or a small version of herself. She didn't mind whether it was a boy or girl. Whichever it was, he or she was going to be very loved especially with all their friends who undoubtedly would want to become aunts and uncles. Suddenly her stomach grumbled earning her a chuckle from the Doctor. “We better get you some food”, he said sliding out of bed “what do you fancy?”

Alyssa thought for a moment before she answered “banana pancakes”.

The Doctor nodded. He should’ve known that’s what she wanted. “Banana pancakes it is”, he said “why don’t you go to the library and pick out of film and I’ll come join you when they’re done”, the Time Lord suggested.

“Sure”, Alyssa agreed. She hopped out of bed and the pair left the bedroom.

“See you in a few minutes, love”, the Doctor said giving her a quick kiss.

“I’ll have the film ready and waiting”, Alyssa promised and headed off. When she reached the comfy red sofa in the library that was situated in front of the tv, she found that _A New Hope_ was already cued up. The Time Lady smiled. The TARDIS knew her all too well. Alyssa settled down on the sofa to wait.

It wasn’t long before the Doctor came in, carrying two plates. He was not surprised to see a Star Wars film on the screen. Alyssa did love those films. He sat down and gave her a plate. The two of them ate their pancakes while watching the movie. After they’d finished, Alyssa snuggled into the Doctor’s side. He put an arm around her, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head. “Do you mind if we not tell Amy and Rory about the pregnancy?” the red head asked “I know this sounds a little selfish but I want to keep it between us for a couple of days, just to let it sink in”.

“Its not selfish at all”, the Doctor assured her “if you want to wait a couple of days then that’s what we’ll do”.

Alyssa smiled “thank you”, she said.

Almost half way through, the Time Lords were joined by Amy and Rory. The four of them ended up watching all of the original trilogy before they made a stop at  Karass Don Slava to have a picnic in the Candle Meadows.

After the picnic, Alyssa and Amy decided to have a little bit of girlie time together. “You know, this is the first time I’ve really done anything like this”, the ginger admitted as she painted her toenails “at least with someone else”. The Time Lady looked at her in surprise.

“Really?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah, Mel wasn’t much of a girlie girl”, Amy explained.

“Well, now you’ve got me”, Alyssa said “and we can do this as often as you like” Amy smiled at that offer “maybe next time I can take you to Oceana Spa. You’d love it there, its amazing”.

“I’d like that very much”, Amy said. While they were talking, a light golden haze drifted into the room through the gaps in the door. Alyssa yawned, suddenly feeling very tired. “I think I wanna pick this up again later”, Amy said, also starting to get tired “feeling very…sleepy” the latter part coming out as she too yawned.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea”, Alyssa agreed. Both the Time Lady and human feel asleep on Amy’s bed, the bottle of nail polish in the ginger’s hand dropping onto the floor, its contents spilling out.

In the console room, the Doctor was slumped over the console, tool hanging limply in his hand as he’d been in the middle of repairs when he dozed off. Rory was fast asleep in the library, an open book on his chest.

**AN: sorry this is a little on the short side. The next will be much longer.**


	18. Amy's Choice part 1

The TARDIS materialises in the middle of a patch of flowers. The door opens and the Doctor stuck his head out to see where they were. “Are we in the right place?” Alyssa called.

“Seems so, love”, the Doctor confirmed. Alyssa joined him at the doorway, hand on her baby bump. The Time Lord stepped over the retaining wall first, knocking at stone from it before helping his wife down.

“Hey Rory!” Alyssa greeted, seeing Rory come out of the small house.

“Hey Ali, Doctor”, Rory said back “congratulations”, he added nodding to the Time Lady’s stomach.

“Thanks”, Alyssa said.

“Oh…I kinda crushed your flowers Rory. Sorry”, the Doctor said apologetically.

“Oh, Amy will kill you”, Rory said.

“Where is she?” Alyssa asked glancing towards the house wondering where the ginger was.

“She'll need a bit longer”, Rory told them.

“Whenever you're ready, Amy”, the Doctor called. Moments later a heavily pregnant Amy waddles out. “Oh, way-hey! You've swallowed a planet”, the Time Lord remarked. Alyssa elbowed him.

“That’s not very nice”, she scolded “when I get to Amy’s size are you going say that _I’ve_ swallowed a planet?”

The Doctor’s eyes widened realising that his remark had just offended his wife…his pregnant wife. “No! No, no, no”, he said quickly “You’ll look even more beautiful than you already do now”.

“Really?” Alyssa asked sensing that he was being honest but her empath abilities have been starting to get a little out of whack since becoming pregnant so she was rather wary about trusting them.

“Really”, the Doctor said. When she still looked unsure, he added softly “you’re always beautiful to me”.

Alyssa smiled at his words and hugged him. “Thank you”, she said.

“No need to thank me, its true”, the Doctor said. He glanced at Amy and Rory “Now that we’re all together, what shall we do?” he asked.

“How about a nice walk?” Rory suggested.

“I’d like that”, Amy said, agreeing with his suggestion.

“Sure, why not”, Alyssa said “a nice walk never hurt anybody”. The Doctor also thought it was a good idea. A walk was both nice and safe. And ever since finding out she was pregnant, he’d been very careful about were they went.

“Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever”, the Doctor remarked taking in their surroundings as they walked.

“It's _Upper_ Leadworth, actually”, Rory corrected “We've gone slightly upmarket”.

“Where is everyone?” the Doctor asked.

“This is busy”, Amy replied “OK, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their nineties”.

“Sounds like the perfect place to raise a child”, Alyssa remarked “but no offense to you guys, I’m not sure I could settle down here. I’d rather be in the TARDIS exploring  the stars”. The Doctor was happy that she preferred life in the TARDIS to living in a sleepy village but if she really wanted to settle down in a house then he’d be willing to give it a go. Anything to make her happy.

The group stopped by a bench, settling down on to it. “You know, I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS”, the Doctor said after a moment, putting at arm around Alyssa when she shivered “This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of your old pals so easily”.

“You piloted the TARDIS, didn’t you Ali”, Amy stated.

“Yeah, I did”, the Time Lady confirmed.

 “Yep”, Alyssa asked popping the p “thought 5 years was long enough. You guys are my best friends after all”.

“So…what do you do around here to stave off the, you know…” the Doctor trailed not quite knowing how to finish.

“Boredom?” Amy supplied.

“Self harm”, the Doctor corrected.

Alyssa smacked his arm “Rude, dear”,  she scolded.

“If you must know Doctor, we relax…we live, listen to the birds”, Rory said.

“Yeah, see, birds. Those are nice”, Amy agreed as birdsong started up.

“We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the Tardis days, did we?” Rory asked. The birdsong grew louder making them all feel a bit drowsy.

“Oh blimey, my head's a bit. Ooh…” the Doctor holds his head in his hand for a moment before he quickly sat up “No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good…” the Time Lord starts to drift off, so does Amy, Rory and Alyssa “old…days”. Alyssa’s head drops onto his shoulder as they all fall asleep.

\------------------------------

Amy and Alyssa awoke with a jerk. “I had the weirdest dream…” the ginger human murmured, sitting up “I dreamt you and the Doctor had come to visit us in Upper Leadworth”.

“And we were both pregnant”, Alyssa added. The pair looked at each other surprised.

“We both had the same dream”, they said in unison.

“Do you think the Doctor and Rory had it too?” Amy asked.

“Only one way to find out”, Alyssa said hopping off the bed. The two of them hastily got dressed  and hurried out of the room to find their boys. Amy and Alyssa ran into Rory in the corridor.

“Amy! Are you ok? I had this weird dream thing. You and me were married…we had a little house…”

“We had the same dream”, Amy cut in. Rory looked at both of them surprised. He opened his mouth to say something when Alyssa spoke

“We can talk about this in length but first I want to go find the Doctor”, and with that she continued up the corridor.

The second she stepped into the console room, she was enveloped in a massive hug from the Doctor. He stepped back and glanced down at her flat stomach. Alyssa knew that he too had the same dream as the rest of them. Before she could say anything, Amy and Rory entered the room. The Doctor moved over to the ginger and hugged her too. “You two are ok”, he stated “terrible…terrible nightmare”, he added with a mutter. The Time Lord stepped back “Blimey. Never dropped off like that before”, he remarked lightly “Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console?” he examined the console where red lights were flashing away “Red flashing lights...I bet they mean something”. Alyssa also took a look at the console, trying to help him pinpoint the cause.

“Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing”, Rory spoke up.

“Yeah, so did I”, Amy added.

“Not a nightmare, though, just…we were married”, Rory continued.

“Yeah”, Amy nodded “in a little village”.

“We’ve all had the exact same dream”, Alyssa put in, looking up from the console.

Rory frowned “How can we all have the same dream?” he asked “It doesn't make any sense”. He glanced at Alyssa.

“Don’t look at me. I may have psychic powers but I can’t make people have identical dreams”, she said.

Amy turned to the Doctor “And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?” she asked.

“It was a bit similar, in some aspects”, the Doctor said evasively.

“Which aspects?” Rory questioned.

“Well…all of them”, the Time Lord admitted.

“You had the _same_ dream”, Amy stated folding her arms.

“Basically”, the Doctor said.

“But you said it was a nightmare”, Rory reminded him.

“Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode”, the Doctor said, quickly changing the subject “We probably jumped a time track” quiet birdsong started up “Forget it. We're back to reality now”.

“Uh Doctor? If we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?” Alyssa asked as it grew louder.

“Yeah, the same birds”, Rory agreed “The same ones we heard in the…”

~Leadworth~

“…Dream” Rory quickly pulled his head away from the Doctor’s, embarrassed “Oh! Sorry. Nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS”.

“We all were”, Alyssa said touching her bump. The Doctor jumped up from the bench and held his hand out to his wife. She took it and he helped her up. 

“Doctor, what is going on?” Rory asked as the Time Lord started to walk quickly away with the Time Lady.

“Is this because of you? Is this some Time Lordy thing because you've shown up again?” Amy questioned, huffing slightly as she tried to keep up. Not easy when she had this extra weight she was carrying.

The Doctor stopped and turned to Amy and Rory. “Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel”, he said.

“But we're awake now”, Rory argued.

“Yeah. You thought you were awake on the TARDIS, too”, the Doctor retorted.

“But we're home”, Amy insisted.

“Yeah, you're home”, the Doctor agreed “You're also dreaming. Trouble is, which is which? Are we flashing forwards or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one”. His hand tightened around Alyssa’s as the birdsong started up for the third time.

~TARDIS~

When the Doctor woke next he was laying on the stairs, Alyssa next to him. “Man, this flashing back and forth is really annoying”, the Time Lady grumbled.

The Doctor jumped up, practically lunging for the console, gripping a lever. “Oh, this is bad. I don't like this”, he said when the lever wouldn’t budge despite the fact that he was using all of his strength. He stepped back and kicked the console. “Argh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself”, he said crossly “Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force”.

“I could’ve told you that”, Alyssa said. She tried to mentally reach out to her ‘mother’ but she didn’t get a response. “Doctor…she’s not talking to me”, she told the Time Lord.

“That’s not good at all”, he said, a serious look on his face. The TARDIS always answered Alyssa. Always. Which meant something _was_ seriously wrong with their ship.

“Shall I run and get the manual?” Amy asked following the Doctor down the set of stairs which led beneath the console while Alyssa continued to fiddle with the console trying to get something…anything to work.

“I threw it in a supernova”, the Doctor replied checking the underside of the console.

“You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?” Amy questioned having followed the pair. Rory had also joined them beneath the console as well.

“He disagreed with it!” Alyssa shouted down to them.

“Yes, I did”, the Doctor confirmed “Stop talking to me when I'm cross” he wagged his finger at the ginger.

“Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?” Rory asked.

“If we were dreaming of the future…” the Doctor muttered heading back up the stairs.

“Well, of course we were. We were in Leadworth”, Amy argued.

“Upper Leadworth”, Rory corrected.

“Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this. Don't you get it?” the Doctor asked her.

“No, OK, no this is real. I'm definitely awake now”, Amy insisted.

“And you thought you were definitely awake when you were all elephanty”, the Doctor retorted.

“Hey! Pregnant!”

“And you could be giving birth right now”, the Doctor shot back “This could be the dream. I told you. Trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true”.

“Ok, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside”, Rory stated.

“With a bow tie-wearing alien and a psychic alien”, Amy added.

“So maybe what rings true isn't so simple”, Rory remarked.

“Valid point”, the Doctor agreed. Suddenly the TARDIS is plunged into darkness save the light coming from the console. The Doctor moved over to Alyssa, putting an arm around her, holding her close.

Birdsong started up once more and Rory hugs Amy. “Remember, this is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels”, the Doctor told them all, tightening his grip on Alyssa. She gripped the front of his jacket as the light on the TARDIS console began to dim.

“It is real. I know it's real”, Amy said firmly.


	19. Amy's Choice part 2

 

~Leadworth~

“Okay, this is the real one”, Amy said from the bench outside the library where she and Rory were sitting “Definitely this one”, she rubs her stomach “It's all solid”.

“It felt solid in the TARDIS too”, Alyssa pointed out “You can't spot a dream while you're having it”.

The Doctor waved a hand in front of his face. “What are you doing?”  Amy asked.

“Looking for motion blur, pixilation”, the Doctor replied “It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though”.

An elderly lady then walked past. “Hello, Doctor”, she called to Rory.

“Hi”, he said and the same time that the Doctor said

“Hello” the Time Lord looked at Rory with some surprise “You're a doctor”, he stated.

“Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams”, Rory said giving the Doctor a smug look.

“A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting”, the Doctor remarked.

“What is?” Rory asked.

“Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream”, the Doctor surmised.

“It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?” Rory asked glancing at his wife.

“Yes. Course it is, yeah”, the ginger replied.

“And this is probably your dream too”, Rory added nodding to Alyssa.

“What makes you say that?” the Time Lady asked.

“Well, you and the Doctor are married and you’re expecting a baby, just like Amy”, Rory explained.

The Doctor and Alyssa exchanged glances “yeah, you’re probably right”, the Time Lord agreed, surprising his wife. 

“What's that?” the Doctor suddenly asked pointing to an old people’s home.

“Old people's home”, Amy answered.

“You said everyone here lives to their nineties”, the Doctor said “There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick”. He took Alyssa’s hand and hurried off, Rory following.

“Oh. Can we not do the running thing?” Amy grumbled, hands on her back as she chased after them.

“Doctor, slow down”, Alyssa said “Amy’s struggling to keep up”. The Doctor complied.

~Care home~

The four eventually entered the care home. Where they went into the lounge and Rory was greeted by another old lady. “Hello, Rory love”

“Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?” he asked.

“A bit stiff”, Mrs Poggit replied.

“Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus…” the Doctor trailed off realising that they didn’t have that medicine just yet “No, you don't have that yet. Forget that”.

“Who's your friend? A junior doctor?” Mrs Poggit asked Rory.

“Yes”, Rory replied.

“Can I borrow you?” Mrs Poggit asked the Doctor “You're the size of my grandson”. The Time Lord knelt down in front of the old lady whom pulled an ugly knitted sweater over his head.

“Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out” he leaned forward, forcing Mrs Poggit to sit back “You're incredibly old, aren't you?” he remarked eyeing the old lady.

“Not again”, Alyssa groaned hearing the birdsong. The residents of the care home watch as she, Rory, Amy and the Doctor pass out on the carpet.

~TARIDS~

The four of them wake to find that they’re all leaning against the console. “Okay, I hate this, Doctor”, Amy stated standing up “Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?”

“You do”, Alyssa confirmed.  

“It's bloody cold”, Rory remarked rubbing his arms.

“The heating's off”, the Doctor said bluntly as he headed up the stairs to the upper level.

“The heating's off?” Rory repeated.

“Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do”, the Doctor told him.

“Yes. Sorry about Mrs Poggit”, Rory said apologetically “She's so lovely though”.

“I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you”, the Doctor told him seriously.

“What do you mean, ‘act’?” Amy asked.

The Doctor pointedly ignored her question and made his way back down to the console where Alyssa was now fiddling with the controls seeing if there was a spark of life anywhere. “Anything, love?” he questioned.

She shook her head “nothing is working. Someone has overridden the controls”, she told him.

“But shouldn’t that be impossible?” Amy asked “you’re the TARDIS’ daughter. I thought it would take a lot for someone to take over the ship especially with your connection to her”.

“You’re right, this should be impossible”, Alyssa agreed “and yet its happened”. Her head suddenly snapped over to the stairs “and the culprit is in this room” a little louder, she ordered “I know you’re there, show yourself!”

A man suddenly appeared right were Alyssa was looking. He was dressed similarly to the Doctor. He slowly clapped his hands. “Well done Alyssa. I knew you’d be the one to figure it out” he walked down the steps “very disappointed in you Doctor. I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie”.

“How did you get into my TARDIS?” the Doctor demanded, wary of this newcomer especially since Alyssa was present “What are you?”

“What shall we call me? Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord”, the man said.

“Nice look”, the Doctor said eyeing the Dream Lord’s attire.

“This?” the Dream Lord pointed to himself “No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties? Should’ve gone with a fez” he glanced at Alyssa “you’ve got a thing for those hats, don’t you?” Before she could answer however, the Doctor quickly threw a tennis ball at the Dream Lord…and it passed through him.

“Interesting”, the Doctor commented as the Dream Lord turned back to him with an amused look on his face.

“I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord. It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky. Not quite there…” the Dream Lord vanished and popped up behind Alyssa, startling her “…and yet very much here”. He gave the red an apologetic look “Sorry, my dear”, he said sounding like he genuinely hadn’t meant to scare her.

The Doctor darted forward pulling Alyssa away from the Dream Lord and placing her protectively behind him. “I'll do the talking, thank you”, the Doctor said glaring at the ‘man’. He was clearly a threat to his future wife and their unborn child. “Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?”

“Um, Dream Lord. He creates dreams”, the ginger answered.

“Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks”, the Doctor spat.

“What about our brilliant Time Lady here? Does she get a guess?” the Dream Lord asked “or will the gooseberry get a turn?” the Dream Lord nodded at Rory.

“Listen, mate. If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's the Doctor”, Rory said.

“Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for”, the Dream Lord said with a shrug.

“No, he is”, Rory insisted “Isn't he, Amy?”

“Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out”, the Dream Lord said “Choose, even”.

“I have chosen. Of course I've chosen” without taking her eyes off of the Dream Lord, she smacks Rory in the chest “It's you, stupid”.

“Oh, good”, Rory nodded “Thanks”.

The Dream Lord smirked at the ginger “You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams…some of them twice. You really ought to be ashamed of yourself Amy. The Doctor would only do those things with one person and that’s not you”.

“Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?” the Doctor asked.

“Me?” the Dream Lord raised his eyebrows “Oh, you're on shaky ground”.

“Am I?” the Doctor scoffed.

“If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student”, the Dream Lord said. They watched the Dream Lord vanish, reappearing on the upper level “So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting, you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger, but only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep” birdsong started up, Amy and Rory succumbing straight away. The Time Lady grabbed the console trying to stay awake. But it was no use, she couldn’t fight the birdsong. She fell asleep, the Doctor quickly grabbing her before she hit the floor. He held her, trying desperately to stay awake but he also failed. The Dream Lord watched the Doctor fall to the floor, Alyssa secured in his arms.

~Care home~

The Doctor, Alyssa, Amy and Rory woke in the lounge of the care home and discovered that the residents were gone.

The Dream Lord casually strolled in carrying an X-ray in his hand. “Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray” he held it up to the light “Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor”.

“Always?” Amy asked “What do you mean, always?”

“Now then, the prognosis is this. If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality”, the Dream Lord said “Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?”

“What happens?” Rory asked.

“You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality”, the Dream Lord said scornfully.

“Have you met the Doctor before? Do you know him?” Amy glanced at the Doctor “Doctor, does he?”

“Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy”, the Dream Lord told Amy “But never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning”. The Dream Lord vanished.

“Ok, I don't like him”, Rory stated.

“Who is he?” Amy asked the Doctor, folding her arms.

“I don't know. It's a big universe”, the Time Lord answered.

“Why is he doing this?” Amy demanded.

“The Dream Lord doesn’t seem to have physical form”, Alyssa said “so its possible he’s just taking it out on us”.

“Couldn’t agree more”, the Doctor agreed tugging the horrible knitted jumper over his head, tossing it aside.

“What does he mean, deadly danger? Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously”, Rory said.

“Hold on where’s all the residents?” Alyssa suddenly asked. The Doctor glanced around and finally noticed that they were alone. h.

“They've all gone”, he breathed “They've all gone”. The Doctor got to his feet, helped Alyssa up and exited the care home with her. Amy and Rory followed the pair.

“Why would they leave?” Rory asked as the Doctor watched some children enter the ruined castle with their teacher.

“And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?” Amy questioned.

“One of my tawdry quirks. Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem”, the Doctor said “So, come on, let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're stuck in… time asleep exactly matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams”.

“And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time”, Rory added.

“Yes”, the Time Lord nodded “sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull! I'm slowing down, like you two have”, the Doctor grumbled.

“Its ok”, Alyssa said softly “we’ll figure it out”.

The birdsong started yet again.

~TARDIS~

The Doctor stood at the console, Alyssa by his side. A moment later Amy and Rory joined them. “It's really cold. Have you got any warm clothing?” Amy asked rubbing her arms.

“What does it matter if we're cold?” the Doctor said irritably. When Alyssa shot him a look, he apologised to Amy “Sorry, sorry. There should be some stuff down there”, he gestured to the steps “Have a look”.

Amy turns and heads down the steps, Rory following after her, zipping up his hoodie at he did so. the Doctor shrugged off his coat and offered it to Alyssa.

“Won’t you need it?” the Time Lady asked.

“Nah, I’ll be fine”, the Doctor assured her.

“The moment I think you’ll need your coat, you’re putting back on. Ok mister?” Alyssa said sternly slipping the coat on.  

“Yes, love”, the Doctor agreed.

**Happy Halloween peoples!**


	20. Amy's Choice part 3

“There’s nothing under there except these blankets”, Amy said showing the Doctor and Alyssa the thin squares of fabric she and Rory had discovered in a trunk underneath the console.

“Those aren’t going to keep you warm at all”, Alyssa said “I’ll get something from the wardrobe”. She shrugged off the Doctor’s jacket and gave it back to him.

“I’ll come with”, Amy said and the Time Lady nodded. The pair left the console room. “Man, is it getting colder?” Amy asked as they walked down the corridor, wrapping her arms around herself. 

“Yeah it is”, Alyssa agreed, rubbing her own arms. She paused in her movements when it registered in her mind that she’d felt this kind of chill before…and it wasn’t from a sheer drop in temperature.

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked when she saw a slightly scared expression appear on Alyssa’s face. The Time Lady didn’t answer her, instead she just slowly turned around. She gasped when she saw Tanya standing there. “Ali, who is that?” Amy questioned.

“That’s impossible”, Alyssa breathed, ignoring Amy “y-you’re dead”.

“Oh, Alyssa. This might come as a shock to you but my kind are hard to kill”, Tanya said.

“What the hell?!” Amy exclaimed when Tanya morphed into her true form.

“Run!” Alyssa shouted, grabbing the ginger’s hand. They raced down the corridor, Tanya chasing after them. Alyssa darted into a room, pulling Amy with her and slammed the door shut. “Stand back”, the Time Lady ordered and the ginger complied. Amy watched her telekinetically move a bookcase in front of the door.

  
“Will that keep her out?” Amy asked.

“I hope so”, Alyssa answered.

“And…who or what is she?” Amy questioned.

“Someone I thought was my friend. Turns out she was an alien vampire who tried to steal my life force”, Alyssa explained “the Doctor saved my life and in doing so…he killed Tanya”.

“If she’s dead…could this mean that this reality is the dream?” Amy asked, hopeful “and she’s the deadly danger?”

Alyssa opened her mouth to say something when they heard the dreaded birds. “I’m starting to get really sick of hearing those damn birds”, the Time Lady griped before both females passed out.

\--------------

The Converse wearing Doctor walked into the library and softly smiled when he saw his pregnant wife asleep, her sketchbook on the floor at her feet along with her colouring chalks. He walked over and moved the chalks and sketchbook onto the table before gently shaking her shoulder. “Ali”, he softly called “Ali, love  wake up”. The Time Lady woke with a start. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump”, he said apologetically.

“S’ok”, Alyssa said sleepily “what’s up?”

“I just wondered if you were hungry”, the Doctor said.

“No, not really”, Alyssa said “I’m just tired”.

“Then why don’t we get you to bed?” the Doctor suggested “it’ll be a lot better for your back”.

“Yeah, it would be”, Alyssa agreed. She went to push herself to her feet when she saw that she had chalk on her hands. “Though I gotta wash my hands first”, she said holding them up.

“That’s fine”, the Doctor said and took her hands, ignoring the chalk on them, helping her to her feet. He then led her out of the room, one hand on the small of her back, the other holding one of her hands.

"You know I had the strangest dream", Alyssa remarked as they walked.

"What was it about?" The Doctor asked.

"Well...there was you but you looked a lot different. Floppy hair and green eyes. I was there too and there were also two other people, Amy Pond and Rory Williams... I think they were our companions. To start off with we were visiting them in Upper Leadworth then suddenly were we all in the TARDIS. We kept flashing between both places every time we heard birdsong and there was this man dressed like dream you called the Dream Lord…" Alyssa shook her head and glanced at the Doctor "it was the weirdest dream I've ever had...That I can remember that is".

"Certainly an interesting one", the Doctor commented.

"I suppose", Alyssa agreed half-heartedly.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked hearing a worried tone in here voice.

"Nothing", Alyssa said quickly. The Doctor stopped making her stop too.

"I may not be the empathic one but I still know when something is bothering you", the Time Lord said “is it because the version of me in your dream is very different to the way I am now?”

“Yeah”, Alyssa mumbled.

“You don’t need to worry about me regenerating, that’s not going to happen for a long…long time. I promise”,  the Doctor assured her. Alyssa looked at him and cracked a small smile when she sensed that his assurances where sincere.

“Ok”, she said. They continued onto their bedroom where Alyssa stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She carefully turned on the tap and went to put her hands under the water when she stopped. Alyssa brought her hands closer to her face, rubbing her fingers together frowning. It didn’t feel like chalk at all. It didn’t even look like any of the chalks she had either as it was more of a golden colour. She stuck her hands under the water and scrubbed off the substance with some soap. Once her hands were free of it, she turned the tap off and rung her hands free of excess water.

Alyssa glanced up at the mirror and did a double take at what she saw. In the condensation was a message addressed to her.

_This isn’t real_

The Time Lady wiped it away only to reveal another message underneath

_It’s just a dream_

She swiped her hand across again to discover a third message.

_WAKE UP!_

A sudden pain blossomed in the palm of her hand causing her to scream.

~TARDIS~

  
Alyssa’s eyes flew open with a small cry as she felt the pain in her hand, more intensely this time. There was a little pool of blood in her palm. “What the hell?!” she exclaimed, noticing the scissors in her other hand. She dropped them quickly.

 ** _“I’m sorry sweetie”_** came the TARDIS’ voice in a rather apologetic tone **_“it was the only way to wake you”_**

“Its ok”, Alyssa said stepping over to the bathroom to clean her wound “what happened Sexy?”

 ** _“You were all subjected to the psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. It fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state”_** the blue box explained.

“A dream state”, Alyssa breathed dabbing her palm and then quickly wrapping it with a bandage from the cabinet “of course. Those worlds, they were just dreams. And the Dream Lord…he’s a part of the Doctor. A part he tries to hide”.

 ** _“And this is why you’re his brilliant Ali”_ **the TARDIS remarked, the Time Lady hearing the pride in her voice.

“Can you wake up the others in the same way?” Alyssa asked moving back out into the bedroom and regarding the slumbering ginger.

 ** _“I’m afraid not. The only reason I was able to wake you was due to our bond”,_** the TARDIS replied.

“So how do we wake them?” Alyssa questioned.

 ** _“There’s nothing we can do, its all down to Amy. She needs to make a choice. The Doctor or Rory”_ **the TARDIS replied **_“until then, they will be stuck in the dream world”._**

“How would she know how to do that?” Alyssa asked.

**_“The Dream Lord will tell her”_ **

Alyssa looked at Amy, worry on her face. She didn’t feel right standing by and doing nothing. There had to be something she could do! _Think Ali! Think!_

The Time Lady racked her brain trying to find something...a way she could help Amy. Her eyes widened to she remembered how she’d managed to pull herself into an alternate world that Donna had been trapped in. She made her way over to Amy and sat down by her head. Alyssa placed her fingers on her temples. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, Alyssa found herself back in the dream version of the TARDIS, in the room that she and Amy had barricaded themselves in. Though it was far colder than when she left it. The ginger was still passed out on the floor. The Time Lady knelt down and touched her on the temple “Amy, wake up”, she said quietly. A split second later Amy gasped awake.

“Ali? Are you ok?” Amy asked quickly, sitting up “in the other place you were still asleep. Have you been here this whole time?”

“Not exactly”, Alyssa replied “I don’t really have time to go into it now as there’s something I need to tell you”.

“Ok”, Amy said showing her that she had her full attention.

“You know how the Dream Lord was giving us a choice of two worlds, this one and Leadworth, right?” Alyssa said. 

“Right”, Amy said.

“Well, he was giving us a choice of two _dream_ worlds. Neither of them are real”, Alyssa told her.

“They’re both dreams”, Amy repeated.

“Yep”, Alyssa confirmed “should’ve really been a big giveaway, I mean…the Dream Lord cannot manipulate real life. But making us believe a dream is reality, that he can do”.

“So if we’re dreaming both worlds, how do we wake ourselves up?” Amy asked, prepared to do anything no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

“Now, Now, Alyssa I can’t have you spoiling my game”, the Dream Lord said, appearing in the room. Bird song filled her ears but Alyssa just ignored it and stood up, folding her arms.

“That trick isn’t going to work on me anymore. You see, I’m already awake”, she informed him.

“Doesn’t matter my dear, this is my world. You cannot beat me here”, the Dream Lord said and disappeared before Alyssa could respond. A split second later, the Time Lady cried out, clutching her head.

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked, worriedly.

“My head!” Alyssa exclaimed falling to her knees “it hurts!”

“Is there anything I can do?” Amy questioned.

“Yes”, Alyssa replied through gritted teeth “you can…argh!” she let out a pained cry “you have to make a choice! Between your fiancé and mine”.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Because its the only way to wake you, Rory and the Doctor”, Alyssa answered with a scream at the end. Then before Amy’s eyes, the Time Lady vanished.

In the real world, Alyssa broke away from the ginger, falling on to the floor with her head throbbing like crazy. **_“I’m sorry sweetie but I couldn’t let the Dream Lord hurt you any more”_** , the TARDIS said.

“It’s ok”, Alyssa whispered. She got to her feet, her stomach lurching as she did so. The Time Lady clapped a hand over her mouth and dashed into the bathroom where she threw up into the sink. Once she felt like she wasn’t going to be sick any more, Alyssa cleaned out the sink and washed her face with cold water. She started back toward the bedroom, only making it a couple of steps before she collapsed, falling unconscious.


End file.
